Advanced Placement
by echigoya
Summary: With the help of her friends in AP2, Sakuno is finally starting to get over Ryo-him. But why is he suddenly making things so difficult? He rejected her. This is what he wanted. Isn't it?
1. The Slackers' Chat Room

Author Notes  
This is my first fanfic ever; or at leat the first one I've ever published. I usually make up crazy scenarios in my head and this is the first one I wrote down. I don't know if I'm any good yet so please comment! I don't know how well I grasped Sakuno's character but there it is. Just to be clear, she is about three months into her first year of high school.

* * *

**Chapter 1: The Slackers' Chat Room**

Sakuno snapped her laptop shut with a grateful sigh. It was four in the morning, and she had finally finished her Literature essay. The assignment had been to pick a character from _Romeo and Juliet _and explain how they related to the character. They also had to analyze the character and explain how their words and actions defined them, and if they themselves did or said similar things, and why or why not. They were to include quotes with page numbers, so that they wouldn't be tempted to just get their answers off of the internet. They were to conclude the essay with their thoughts on how this character's behavior at the beginning of the book differed from their behavior at the end, and if they personally had ever gone through such a change, and if so what; and how exactly does it relate to _Romeo and Juliet. _It was all very tiresome and, like the rest of her classmates, Sakuno had left it until the night before it was due.

Sakuno grinned to herself. High school was really nothing like she thought it would be. She had studied very hard for her high school entrance exams, and as a result, she had gotten into all the schools she applied to, and in all Advanced Placement classes. She had chosen Seigaku High School, because the prospect of entering a brand new school and not knowing anyone had frightened her quite a bit. Although, the way things turned out, it was like she _had _gone to a foreign high school.

Sakuno had done very well on her entrance exams. _Very_ well. So very well, that she had, indeed, been put into AP classes. However, she was the only one from her middle school class that had.

Okay, that was an exaggeration. There were three or four other students from her old class who had made AP classes. However, Seigaku High School had two AP classes for each year, each class with only ten students in it. This was so that the students could have more face time with the teachers, there were fewer kids to compete with, and they could have group discussions, and other things; it was a very nice system, and it had worked well for many years. The faculty had also decided on two AP classes so that the students could get to know each other better. With so few kids, everyone was bound to become acquaintances, at the very least. The teachers weren't cruel though; they didn't want to ostracize the students. So they tried to split up the kids from the same schools, so that instead of, say, all four students from one school in the same class, there were two in each. Every year the teachers were careful to evenly divide the students from each school. The idea was that everyone knew _someone _but nobody knew _everyone _and so they were forced to mingle.

This all worked very well; except for one year. One year, five students from Seishun Gakuen Middle School had gotten into the Advanced Placement program. The secretary was the one in charge of dividing up the students on the computer. She had glanced at the screen, saw there were five students from Seishun, and automatically decided on three and two. Except when she was typing in the numbers, her finger slipped. Instead of three students in AP1, and two students in AP2, there were four students in AP1, and one student in AP2. The secretary hadn't even realized she'd made a mistake. No one had realized, until the first day of classes in September.

Sakuno leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes, thinking back to her first day of High School. She had walked into the classroom and taken a seat in the front. She twisted around in her seat and glanced around, looking for a familiar face. She froze. She scanned the face of every student in the room, and then she did it again, a horrible squirming sensation starting in her stomach. Maybe not everyone's here yet, she had thought desperately, but another look around the room confirmed that every seat was taken.

She remembered slowly turning around again and staring blankly at the board. _I don't know anybody in here. _She knew she had the right room, as she had triple checked both her schedule and the number outside the door. This was her classroom, and these were her classmates, _and she didn't know anybody. _

Sakuno remembered she had closed her eyes and taken deep breaths, willing herself to calm down, but her face was red and her hands were shaking and _she didn't know anybody._

Tomoka Osakada, her best friend, hadn't been put in AP classes, but Sakuno had thought that _somebody, anybody _from her old school would be here. That was why she had chosen this school; to save herself the embarrassing and scary prospect of interacting with strangers. But here she was, in her new school, with her new class, and _she didn't know anybody. _

Sakuno didn't know what she would have done (Screamed? Pass out? Both seemed plausible at the time) had the person sitting next to her not leaned over and tapped her on the shoulder. Sakuno jumped slightly and turned around to face the stranger. The stranger was a girl; she had long black hair that didn't quite reach her elbows, smooth porcelain skin, and big blue eyes that were currently focused on Sakuno. Her mouth had formed into a tentative smile.

"Hello," she had said. Sakuno had noticed how she had a nice voice; clear, but not as loud as Tomoka's. "I'm Misaki," she continued. "I'm new. I mean, everyone here is new," she had said with a laugh, "but I mean, I don't know anybody."

It was then, in that split second between the end of the girl's-Misaki's- introduction, that Sakuno realized several things all at once. One, everyone in this room was in the same boat she was. Every face was new, and if they wanted to change that, they were going to have to grow a pair and introduce themselves, the way Misaki had. Two, maybe not knowing anyone in her new classes would be a good thing. She could reinvent herself, become a better person. To this girl sitting in front of her, Sakuno was not the constantly blushing, stuttering, lovesick (but she wasn't going to think about that), shy little girl. With this girl, with these people, Sakuno could finally be someone different. And without him around (but she wasn't going to think about him) it could be so much easier. And three, Sakuno liked this girl, Misaki, quite a lot. She was nice and had an honest face, and Sakuno could see being friends with her.

All of these thoughts ran through Sakuno's mind in an instant. And in that instant, she was able to relax. The blush faded from her cheeks and her hands stopped shaking, and she could feel her panic about being in this new place fading away. Already, in that instant, she could feel herself becoming a new person.

Even though this had been a life changing moment for Sakuno, it had happened in a barely perceptible pause. Misaki, Sakuno's potential friend, hadn't even noticed.

Sakuno remembered she had exhaled, once, letting her fears leave her once and for all, before she responded to the girl. "Hello, I'm Sakuno. It's really nice to meet you," she said, thrilled at her newfound confidence, and marveling in the loss of her trademark stutter. "I don't know anybody here either," she went on, "so I'm really glad you introduced yourself." Sakuno smiled hesitantly, wondering if maybe she shouldn't have said that last part.

But Misaki beamed at her, and actually looked quite relieved. "Thank god. I was so afraid I wasn't going to make any friends, and I'd be all alone on my first day. I kind of panicked when I walked in, but then you came in and you looked so nice, so I thought, 'Hey, I've got nothing to lose!' So I introduced myself and here we are!"

Sakuno laughed. Misaki was easy to talk to. She was about to confide how nervous _she _had been, when another tap on her shoulder made her turn around. Misaki turned too, and they were both surprised to see two boys standing there grinning nervously at them.

"Hey," one of them said. He had shaggy brown hair, chestnut eyes, and was currently smiling in an almost sheepish way at the two girls. The black haired, bespectacled boy beside him wore an identical expression. Sakuno recognized it as a mixture of friendly, nervous, and slightly embarrassed, and she had a feeling she was going to be seeing that look a lot today.

"I'm Kenta," the shaggy haired boy said, "and this is Hikaru," he gestured to the bespectacled boy.

"I'm Sakuno," she had introduced herself.

"Hi, I'm Misaki."

The two boys nodded. "We're from Rikkaidai Middle School," Kenta said, "and besides ourselves, we don't really know anybody."

Sakuno smiled wryly to herself. That seemed to be the phrase of the day.

Over the next twenty minutes, the class introduced themselves to each other, and Sakuno found to her surprise that she quite liked everyone. As the teacher rushed in twenty minutes late, apologizing and telling everyone to take their seats, Sakuno found herself smiling hugely. So much for not knowing anybody.

By the end of the second day of school, Sakuno knew all the names of her nine classmates (Misaki, Kenta, Hikaru, Takeshi, Kimiko, Sayuri, Kyo, Yumi, and Seji), and by the third day she was good friends with all of them, although she was closest with Misaki and Kenta. By the second week, they all ten of them had become the members of the Slackers' Chat Room.

People always assume that the brainiacs in AP all started their assignments as soon as they were handed out, and finished them weeks early. This could not be farther from the truth. While they could not speak for AP1, the kids in AP2 could safely say that being smart didn't mean you had good time management skills. What usually happens is they wait for the night before something is due, work their asses off, and end up doing really well. Being smart actually inspires procrastination, because you're good enough to get away with it.

Seiji and Kyo were the ones who had come up with the Slackers' Chat Room.

It all started about two weeks into the start of the year, when the AP kids were all starting to realize what AP stood for. As it turns out, it does not mean "Advanced Placement." It actually means, "Agonizing Papers." Being in AP classes doesn't just mean you look at harder material than the other students. It means that you write papers about it. You write papers about your science labs, you write papers about your history topics, you write papers about your math problems, and, of course, you write papers about your books. There is a never ending supply of reasons to write papers when you are in AP classes.

One day during their break time, the students of AP2 were hanging out in their classroom. Sakuno happened to overhear Kimiko and Yumi talking about the history paper they had due tomorrow, and how both had left it for that night. Sakuno and Misaki confessed that they too had left it for the last moment. Kenta and Sayuri admitted to procrastinating as well, and it turned out that everyone else had too.

Now in every class-even in one with only ten people-you have your designated class clowns. They're the ones who're quick to tell a joke, the first ones to laugh at other peoples, are usually in trouble, and are generally of the good natured humorous type. For class AP2, the ones who filled that role were Seji and Kyo.

They actually reminded Sakuno of Momo-chan-sempai and Eiji-sempai, the way they were always smiling and joking ad laughing. And loud too; they were very loud.

Anyways, so Seji suggested that since they had all left the assignment for that night, they should all go on a chat room. They could keep the chat room open while they typed their essays, and they could use it to compare notes and share ideas and give advice. Kyo jokingly suggested that they could call it "the Slackers' Chat Room."

Everyone laughed and said it was a great idea, so that night they all logged in and joined the chat room created by Seji and Kyo, which was of course called, the Slackers' Chat Room.

It actually turned out to be a huge success. With the help of their fellow classmates, they were able to get their history papers done much faster, and they all turned out much better. And it wasn't cheating; they weren't writing the essays for each other. They were just sharing advice and resources, really.

The chat room worked so well for the history paper that they decided to try it again for the next one. And then the next one. And then the one after that. Within the first month of school, the Slackers' Chat Room had become official. The night before an assignment due, all ten students from class AP2 would sign on to complain, curse the teachers, compare notes, and help each other in any way they could. If someone didn't understand something, then they had nine people there, ready to help them. They used the chat room for tests too, and projects and any other assignments. And it really did work. Class AP2 had the best grades in the entire school, all thanks to the Slackers' Chat Room. And the whole school knew it.

This was partly Sakuno's fault. She hadn't meant to, but she should have known that by telling Tomoka, she was basically telling the whole student body.

Sakuno couldn't deny that having literally no classes with Tomoka had distanced them. Sure, they ate lunch together every day, and they called each other a lot, and they hung out most weekends. But it wasn't exactly the same anymore. Sometimes Sakuno missed Tomoka; they didn't get to talk as much, so when they did get together, they had a lot to say. Once, Sakuno went a whole week only speaking to Tomoka during lunch, so when she went over her house the next weekend, she was so excited to see her again, that she just told Tomo-chan everything she'd been doing that week. And that included the Slackers' Chat Room.

Sakuno had been really worried when she'd let that slip; she wasn't really sure if it was supposed to be a secret or not, so she wasn't sure if she should tell her not to tell anybody. So she didn't. Oops.

The next day, everyone knew about it-_everyone. _When Sakuno first heard the whispers about it in the hallway, she had braced herself for an onslaught of insults, teasing, and inquiries. What actually happened was shocking. The entire student body (and the teachers too!) knew that the freshmen in class AP2 had created a slackers chat room for themselves to help them with their homework, and the entire student body thought it was-cool.

Really. They thought it was just the coolest things. The older AP students were impressed and jealous ("Why didn't we think of that?"), the freshmen were astounded by their daring, and everyone else just thought it was so funny and so cool. Sakuno wondered what he thought-but no she didn't care what he thought.

The downside was that everyone wanted to join the chat room. They politely but firmly told them that it was only for AP2; too many people would make it too confusing, and they had different classes than them anyways, they reasoned. Eventually everyone backed off, but there were a number of "Faux Slacker Chat Rooms" going around, as Kimiko called them.

The other thing that happened as a result of Sakuno telling Tomo about the chat room was that everyone called them "the Slackers." Literally everyone. Sakuno had no idea how the entire student learned all their names and faces (although she had a feeling Tomoka was behind it) but they did, and it was rare for someone from AP2 to walk down the hall without someone calling, "Yo, Slacker!" Even the teachers addressed them like that; "Okay Slackers, take your seats."

It was slightly embarrassing, but Sakuno didn't really have a problem with it; she actually thought it was kind of funny. And it _was _kind of gratifying to have everyone in the school know who she was; even for something as silly as this. Thankfully her classmates felt the same way. She had apologized profusely for blowing their sort of secret, but they had all waved her off, saying they didn't mind, for which she was extremely grateful.

Sakuno opened her eyes and glanced at her alarm clock. Four thirty. Too early to take a shower; the bathroom was right next to her parents room, and the sound of the shower would definitely wake them up. But after three cups of coffee, there was no way she was going to bed. Sakuno had pulled an all-nighter with the rest of her class, writing that brutal _Romeo and Juliet_ essay. They had all been a huge help on the chat room; she never would have finished without them.

But Sakuno was feeling nervous now. These were the moments she hated. She had nothing to occupy her mind with. That meant that soon he would enter her thoughts once more. But she would NOT think about him, she told herself firmly. But she knew it was inevitable. Usually she was able to keep her mind busy with school and her friends and tennis (she was much better now, and had made the girls team) and chores and finally, sleep. But there would always be those moments when her mind wouldn't be fully occupied, and he would sashay into her thoughts, smirking like he owned the place. Which he did, in a sense. Sakuno put it off for as long as she possibly could, but he was here now, in her mind. And whenever he entered her thoughts, Sakuno was forced to remember why she tried so hard to keep him out…and then she would go back two years ago…and relive that day…

She ran down another hallway, and then another, peering into all the classrooms as she sprinted along. Still no sign of him. Her long auburn plaits whipped from side to side as she climbed yet another staircase and looked into all the classrooms on yet another floor.

Sakuno skidded to a halt, panting and wringing her hands. _Where could he be? _And then she remembered. Of course.

She turned around and sprinted down the hallway, running up the staircase as fast as she could. _Please be there please be there please be there _she chanted to herself as she pounded up the steps. Finally she reached the top. She flung the door open, and was at first blinded by the sudden brightness. Squinting, she scanned the rooftop, and then she saw him. He was lying on the ground a little ways away, his hands behind head, white Fila cap covering his face, and a tennis bag on the ground beside him.

"Ryoma-kun!" she gasped, clutching the stitch in her side. It was true! _He was back!_ she exulted.

"Hm…" he grunted, slowly rising to a sitting position. The white cap fell from his face. He ran his fingers through his green-black hair and rubbed the sleep out of his hazel eyes, stifling a yawn. He looked around, seemingly surprised by his surroundings. "Gonna be late," he muttered, gathering up his things. Pulling the cap back over his head, he got to his feet and started heading towards the door. He only then seemed to notice the girl with the long plaits, slightly bent over, clutching her side.

"Ryuzaki," he said in bored tone that was only barely surprised. "What are doing here?"

"R-Ryoma-kun," she stuttered. She had managed to catch her breath, but her words seemed to tumble over themselves as she looked into his cat-like eyes.

"Hm," he said, barely interested.

"R-Ryoma-kun, is it t-true? A-are you m-moving b-back to-to Japan? Y-you're b-back at Seigaku?" she managed to get out.

"Hm," he said yet again, this time coupled with a slight nod.

"I-I'm so happy," she said smiling at him. Ryoma made a move as if to walk around her out the door. "W-wait!" she exclaimed, holding out her arms to stop him. "I…I n-need to t-tell you something, R-Ryoma-kun."

Ryoma was now looking impatient, so Sakuno quickly gathered up all the courage she had. Her face turned beet red at what she was about to do. Her hands were shaking and she felt like she might pass out, but she took a deep breath, looked Ryoma in the eye and said, "I-I l-love you Ryoma-kun! Ever since the first time I met you! I-I love you!"

There. She had said it. There was no going back. She waited, feeling petrified, but also thrilled that she had let her feelings go.

Ryoma looked at her for a minute. Finally he opened his mouth, Sakuno's stomach lurched and he sad, "I know." For a second, for one glorious second, Sakuno's heart soared and she felt as though a balloon was being blown up inside of her, and she wanted to run to Ryoma and throw her arms around but then-

"I don't feel the same way."

The balloon popped.

"W-what?" she gasped, hoping against hope that she had misheard.

"I don't feel the same way," he repeated, slowly and clearly so that she would get it. She did. _I told Ryoma-kun that I love him and he doesn't feel the same way. _She felt numb.

"Sorry," he said with a slight shrug if his shoulders, still looking as impassive and unfazed as ever.

She didn't even know what to say. What could she say? She felt like if she opened her mouth she might hurl. So she kept it closed and just kept staring at him.

Ryoma glanced down at his watch, and now he really looked irritated. "Che, I'm really late now," he muttered, and brushed past her on his way down the stairs. She still didn't say anything. She didn't watch him as he left. She just kept staring straight ahead, at the place he had been standing. When he rejected her.

And just then it hit her. She sank to her knees, and let the tears fall. She curled up in a ball on the roof and sobbed and sobbed until she thought her heart must be broken, his words must have wrenched some crucial part to it out and threw it after the boy. If he wished to, he could fix her, repair the missing piece, but he wouldn't. Because, "He didn't feel the same way."

She cried and cried, and when she was sure her tears were gone, she managed to produce more. She wasn't sure how long she lay there, curled up in a ball, crying over broken heart. Maybe hours. She had no way of knowing, but it was dark before she found her body couldn't produce any more tears, so she gave a few dry, heaving sobs before pulling herself up into a quivering hiccoughing semi sitting position.

Now that she was finally done crying, Sakuno felt she was able to think rationally now. She took some deep breaths. _Ryoma-kun doesn't love me, and probably doesn't even like me. I just grieved that, and now I have to accept that. _But Sakuno realized that she already had. If she had thought there was still hope, then she wouldn't have cried like that in the first place. The thought gave a gentle pull at her heart, at the place where the missing piece went. The piece that was now his forever.

_And now _she thought, taking another deep breath, an exercise that was becoming a habit, _now, I have to get over him._

That was so much easier said than done. Could she get over him? Could she possibly? _Yes _she decided. She would have to.

So she made herself some ground rules. She wouldn't talk to him. She wouldn't look at him. She wouldn't go watch him play tennis.

The hole in her heart tugged a little at these thoughts, hating them, not wanting to abide by them.

_But you have to_ she told herself. _For your own sake._

Just one more rule. She wasn't allowed to think about him, about this. Ever.

And so it went for two years. She followed her rules to the letter. Except for the unavoidable occasions when she would accidentally break the last rule. _Times like now_, she though, bringing herself back to the present.

Sakuno sat her desk, feeling thoroughly miserable. It wasn't fair. Why should he still have this hold on her? It's been two years. Why can't she just forget about him already?

She knew the answer to that. It was because he kept the missing piece to her heart. He kept it with him at all times, even though he didn't know it. If she wanted it back she was going to have to ask for it.

She snorted, getting up from her desk and heading over to the bathroom. It was five-fifteen now. A perfectly acceptable time to be up.

She turned on the hot water and stepped into the shower, and immediately a thousand thoughts filled her mind like someone had flipped a switch. Her brain was performing the usual task of pushing Ryo-him out of her mind. He smirked mockingly at her. _I'll just be back later _he warned. _You can't get rid of me._

_Shut up you! _Her brain snarled, shoving him out of her thoughts, for a while at least.

Sakuno thought of all the things she had to do today with a slight groan. The coffee was wearing off and she was dead tired. She was glad the rest of her class would be as well; they could gripe together.

Sakuno grinned to herself, stepping of the shower and wrapping herself in a towel. She really did love being in the AP class.

* * *

So what'd ya think? Comment, review it, or whatever please; I wanna know! I really loved writing this, so I'm defintely gonna finish it. The next chapter's gonna be from Ryoma's point of view. Wanna make bets on how badly I'll screw it up? I'll try but it is really not easy trying to crawl into Ryoma's head. Tell me what you think!


	2. The Other AP Student

Author's Notes  
Woo-hoo chapter two! This is one is from Ryoma's point of view. I'm not sure how well I captured his character; you can be the judge of that.  
Thanks so much to undauntedheiress, Alianora Serein, and soni-chan for reviewing, I really appreciate it.

* * *

**Chapter Two: The Other AP Student**

Ryoma really hated being in the AP class. Generally, Ryoma didn't really feel strong emotions about anything. It was always his trademark bored attitude, coupled by a slight hint of irritation, or pleasure, or some other such emotion, depending on the situation. Nothing surprised him, nothing ignited any strong feelings in him. Except for tennis; tennis was the only thing in his life that ever made him feel happy and challenged, and even excited.

Ryoma wondered why that was…and then quickly disregarded the thought, remembering that he didn't care.

"For homework tonight…" Ryoma glanced up at the teacher; his face was impassive, but he was silently begging him not give them another essay. He already had two due that week. "For homework tonight…" the teacher repeated, looking down at his notes. "I want you each to write a five page essay on the first book of _the Iliad_, explaining if you thought Achilles' anger was justified. Include reasons and examples for your answer, with references to the research articles we discussed earlier. To be handed in tomorrow morning."

Ryoma scowled at the teacher as he packed up his things. _Great_, he thought, _really just excellent_. These teachers got high off of giving difficult papers. This would take him all night; he would have to cancel with Momo. Ryoma's scowl deepened. He and Momo-sempai had been planning on going to the outdoor tennis courts to have a game. They had actually been planning it since the start of term three months ago, but Ryoma kept having to postpone it. He never had time for anything anymore. Tennis practice for the boy's tennis club was demanding; three hours every day after school, plus the self training the regulars had to do. And every day after tennis practice, he got straight to work on his homework. It was rare for him to go to bed before one AM.

Why hadn't he flunked the entrance exams? He pondered this as he walked down the hall to the cafeteria. The test had been incredibly easy. He had gotten almost every question right, and those were just for minor spelling errors, or he had put a decimal in the wrong place. He was sure if he had studied he would have gotten one hundred percent. If he had realized what AP classes would be like, he definitely would have flunked it. Or at least gotten some more questions wrong, so they wouldn't have put him in this excruciatingly demanding class

He remembered his first day. He had walked into his classroom and plopped down in a seat in the back row, near a window. He glanced lazily around the room noticing a few familiar faces. His new classmates were all getting acquainted with each other, but he didn't bother. What was the point? He didn't want to be friends with any of these people. So he didn't introduce himself to anyone, and no one approached him. His distant expression discouraged even the bravest of them.

Ryoma noticed, as he watched the students break off into little groups, that someone seemed to have made an error in dividing up the middle schools. By listening in on the separate conversations for a little bit, he was able to figure out what school everyone was from. The three standing near the door were from Seishun Gakuen, like him. The three sitting at desks in the middle of the room were Fudoumine. And the three chatting by the teacher's desk were Yamabuki. He had heard from his sempai that the since the AP classes were so small, the faculty tried to spread out the kids from different schools, to discourage cliques. Ryoma decided that whoever had been in charge of this was an idiot, as cliques were definitely being formed. He was quite sure that the students would only talk to the others from their own schools.

Ryoma studied the faces of fellow former classmates, and recognized two of them from his English class, and one from his Math class. He had never spoken to any of them, and even now he couldn't recall any of their names. The students who usually followed him around, Horio, Kachiro, Katsuo, Ryuzaki, and Ryuzaki's loudmouth friend Osakada, were not in his class, for which he was grateful. They could all be really annoying.

Actually, Ryoma reminded himself, Ryuzaki didn't follow him around anymore. For whatever reason, she had just decided to leave him alone. She didn't say hi to him in the halls anymore, and she never once glanced his way. It was like he didn't exist to her anymore. He didn't know what had caused the sudden change; maybe she had just gotten bored with him. He found he didn't care, except…Ryoma frowned. Ryuzaki had also stopped coming to watch him play tennis. He didn't know why, but whenever he looked over to the spectators, and didn't see her standing there blushing and cheering him on, he felt strangely irritated. He wondered why that was. He supposed he was simply used to her presence. He didn't like change, anything that interfered with his usual routine. She had simply thrown things off a little, that was all. No big deal. But it _was_ irritating…

Ryoma suddenly frowned and looked harder at the little knot of former Seishun students. Ryuzaki definitely wasn't there; he couldn't make out her red face or her too long hair. But he was _sure _she was in AP classes too. He remembered the day they had gotten their entrance exam results. He had heard Osakada complaining loudly that now that Ryuzaki was in the Advanced Placement program she would never see her again. Ryuzaki had given her murmured reassurances, of course not, that would never happen, before Ryoma had tuned them both out, deeming their conversation unimportant.

Maybe she decided to go to a different school, he thought, and then he remembered there were two AP classes. He smirked to himself. All the other Seishun kids were in here. He imagined her in her new class, red faced and stutteringly introducing herself, twisting the ends of her plaits between her fingers nervously. She probably wouldn't make any friends this year other than Osakada. He realized he felt sorry for her; _he _didn't care about talking to classmates, but he assumed she would. He dismissed the feeling and stared out the window. From here, he could almost see the tennis courts, and he spent the rest of the lesson imagining what sort of facilities the school had.

Back in the present, Ryoma descended a staircase, frowning. Ryuzaki had been ignoring him this year too. Or at least, he assumed she was. He hadn't actually seen her since school began. He knew she attended the school, because at the beginning of the year some girls had been asking Osakada if she did. "Yeah," she had replied resentfully. As always, her voice was loud and carrying, so Ryoma was able to catch every word even though he was on at the opposite end of the hall. "You haven't seen her 'cause she's in the AP class. I don't see her either, except for lunch. She's really close to her new classmates. She spends all her time with them. Guess she's too smart to hang out with us anymore," she had sniffed. Ryoma frowned. He doubted Ryuzaki thought she was better than anyone; that just didn't sound like her. She must just like her new classmates. Osakada was twisting things, as usual.

The next thing he had heard about her was that she was in "the Slackers' Chat Room." One day their teacher had been late to class, so everyone had leaned in to his or her neighbor to gossip. Ryoma didn't pay them any attention, although he gathered that everyone was talking about the same thing. He picked up on the words "slackers," "chat room," and "AP2."

Huh, he had thought to himself. Something's going on with Ryuzaki's class. He jumped slightly when someone said her name. "Yeah, it's Ryuzaki-san's class!" someone from his old middle school had said, echoing Ryoma's thoughts. He suddenly wanted to hear more. He shifted in his seat slightly, and turned his head a little to the right so he could hear the conversation going on next to him without looking away from the window.

"Sakuno?" the other person had replied doubtfully. He really should learn their names, Ryoma thought vaguely.

"Yeah, I know right?" the first person responded, a hint of wonderment in his voice. "I mean, when I think of shy little Ryuzaki-san…" he trailed off. Ryoma knew what he meant. Ryuzaki was the least likely person in the world to do anything she wasn't supposed to. Now he was _really _curious.

"I'm confused," the second person said, a slight frown in his voice. "What happened in the first place? What is "the Slackers' Chat Room?" Ryoma frowned too. _Slackers' Chat Room?_

"Well," the first person said slowly, "according to Tomoka-" Ryoma smirked to himself. Trust Osakada to be the one to spread around whatever this was. "-it is what it sounds like: a chat room for slackers. The AP2 kids are apparently huge procrastinators; they leave all their assignments for the day before they're due. So apparently, they made this chat room. The night before a paper or something is due, they all log on, and they do the assignment together. That's why their grades are so good; if I had ten people helping me, I'd get all A's too." The person sounded sulky. Ryoma was intrigued.

"Huh," the second person said. "And this is just AP2?" he confirmed.

"Yeah. Apparently some people asked to join, but they said no. It's like their own private club or something," the first person said mockingly. Ryoma frowned. Well of course they wouldn't let anyone else join it. They have different classes than everyone else, different homework. It wouldn't make sense for someone from another class to be a part of it. Ryoma wondered if this unpleasant sounding person was maybe one of the ones who had been rejected…and chuckled to himself when he realized he probably was.

The two classmates Ryoma had been eavesdropping on turned around at the noise and looked at Ryoma in surprise. He only ever spoke in class when he was called on, and no one had ever heard him laugh; it was not something he did often, and he certainly had never made such a noise in a classroom. Ryoma continued to look out the window like he didn't know they were staring. The teacher entered the room then, and they turned back around to face front. Ryoma didn't bother. He continued looking out the window, mulling over what he had just heard.

So, Ryuzaki was in a group for slackers? He was surprised. She didn't seem like the type to slack off. He wondered what else he didn't know about her… He dismissed the thought immediately. Who cared about her? She was just some girl from his middle school. He didn't need to know anything about her. He turned around to face the board, deciding to listen to the lesson for once.

Ryoma entered the cafeteria. He grabbed a tray and swiftly made his way through the lunch line. One he had gotten his food, he headed over to his usual table. He was once again in the same school as his old tennis team, so he now ate lunch with Momo-sempai and Eiji-sempai. Occasionally they were joined by some other old regulars (although they were all regulars on the high school team now) and some of Momo's and Eiji's other friends.

"Yo," he greeted them as he sat down across from his sempai.

"Hey, Echizen!" said Momo cheerfully around a mouthful of food.

"Yo, Ochibi!" Eiji greeted him. Ryoma sighed. Even though he was in high school, Eiji still called him that. He wasn't even short anymore. During the summer of his second year of middle he had had a growth spurt; He was now as tall as Momo, and still growing. Eiji was barely two inches taller than him. Although, he thought, even if he did someday become taller than Eiji-sempai, he would still probably call him that. He rolled his eyes and picked up his sloppy joe. He looked at it closely; there didn't seem to be anything radioactive about it, so he took a bite. He grimaced. It sure _tasted _radioactive.

Eiji and Momo, who had been watching him examine his food, burst out laughing at the look on his face.

"Don't turn your nose up at it, Echizen," said Momoshiro, shaking his own sloppy joe at Ryoma sternly, and sending little bits of chili flying.

"Oi, Momo quit shaking that, nya!" Eiji complained, holding up his arms to shield himself from the disgusting bits of food.

"Sorry, sempai," Momo apologized, grinning impishly.

"Che," Ryoma muttered disgutedly, picking up his napkin and wiping the pieces of chili off of his face and arms.

"So Echizen," Momo began, once again talking with his mouth filled to bursting with food. "How's life in the smart class?"

Ryoma sighed. Momo asked him this question every day. He seemed to think it was hilarious that he had so much work to do. Ryoma wanted to hit him.

"It sucks," was the answer he always gave. "We got _another_ to essay to do, due tomorrow. Sorry Momo, I gotta cancel tonight."

"What, again? C'moooon Echizen," Momo-sempai whined, sounding much more like a five year old than his sempai. "Can't you just not do it or something?"

"Yeah, you're always working, Ochibi, nya!" Eiji chimed in.

Ryoma opened his mouth to reply, when a loud, carrying laugh sounded from across the caf. The three of them turned around to see where the laugh had come from. Unsurprisingly, it turned out to be Osakada. She was talking to some girl, who appeared to be laughing as well, although not nearly as loudly. The girl had wavy auburn hair that fell to just past her shoulders, and Ryoma thought that she might have brown eyes, although he couldn't tell from this distance. He could tell that she was very pretty.

"Oi oi, who's that cute girl next to Osakada?" Momo asked eagerly. "I don't think I've ever seen her before."

"She's pretty, nya!" Eiji agreed. "I think she's a freshman. She looks too young to be in my class, anyway."

"She could be a junior," Momo mused, "but I think I would know who she is then…What about you, Echizen? Think she could be in your class?"

Ryoma shrugged. There were a lot of kids in his year. There were three hundred and fifty freshmen; it was impossible to know every face. He didn't think it was that interesting, but Momo and Eiji always made a big deal about pretty girls.

"She _is _really pretty," Momo was saying thoughtfully. He grinned. "Maybe I should go introduce myself, eh?"

"Oi Momo you already have a girlfriend," said Eiji indignantly. "Maybe I should tell her you've been looking at other girls, nya?"

"C'mon Eiji, you can't tell Ann, you can't!" Momo begged him. Ryoma let them squabble. He was staring intently at the girl. She looked sort of familiar. Now that he thought about it, he thought he had seen her walking through the halls with a slightly taller girl with long black hair and bright blue eyes. He had never looked closely at her, because the black haired girl was so striking, she diverted all attention to herself. Her black hair was straight and glossy, and he'd never seen eyes such a bright blue. Well, Fuji-sempai, but that didn't count. Not to mention her…erm…chest…

Lost in his own thoughts, Ryoma didn't even notice when the bell rang and the people all around him starting getting up.

"Oi Echizen!" Momo said loudly, thumping Ryoma on the shoulder. "Wake up, will you? We gotta get to the assembly."

Ryoma blinked looking around him in surprise. Was lunch over already? He got up and dumped his tray in the nearest trash can, then followed his sempai out to the auditorium. Every other Wednesday there was an assembly. It was basically an hour and a half of the principal droning on to the students about school policy and special announcements and a whole lot of other stuff nobody cared about. Attendance was mandatory, otherwise no one would show up, but it was a good chance to catch up with friends (as long as a teacher didn't catch you), take a nap, or get some work done. Plus it meant shorter classes for the rest of the day.

"Hey Echizen, try finishing your essay during the assembly! Then we can go to the courts," Momo suggested.

"Hm…" He had been planning on sleeping, but Momo did have a point. He couldn't remember the last time he had got out of his house for anything other than school and tennis practice. He nodded his assent, and Momo grinned and shoved his fist in the air. "Yes!"

"Oi! Momo, Ochibi, I got seats!" came Eiji's voice from inside the auditorium. Momo went running in, but Ryoma took his time. His seat wasn't going anywhere.

"Hurry up Chibi!" said Eiji impatiently as Ryoma strolled down the aisle. There were three sections of seats in the auditorium, with two aisles going down either side of the middle section. Eiji had got them three seats near the back. Ryoma's seat was at the end of the row right next to the left aisle. Good, he hated being in the middle, with all those people pressed up all around him. He plopped down in his seat and took a notebook and _the Iliad _out of his bag. He sighed. This was gonna suck.

The lights dimmed a little, and the chatter died down as people either closed their eyes or leaned in closer to whisper to their friends. Ryoma could still make out his notebook, so he bent forward and started to write, when he heard a voice coming from the entryway, "Shoot! C'mon Sakuno, it started already."

Ryoma paused, then shrugged it off. Sakuno wasn't an uncommon name. The people in the back rows who had heard the boy's voice all started laughing in whispers as the latecomers crept down the aisle and took seats in the left section a row or two behind Ryoma. He had just finished the first paragraph of his essay when he heard the boy whispering to the other person he had come in with, Sakuno. He heard a familiar giggle, then someone went "Oof!" as though they had been elbowed, and then the voice that had giggled went, "Come on Kenta, shut up!"

Ryoma froze. He knew that voice-he _remembered_ that voice. He wanted to whip his head around, but he was Ryoma Echizen. He did not do head whipping. So instead, he casually shifted in his head, as though he were uncomfortable. As he shifted, he turned his head until he could see the late comers over his shoulder. He didn't think anyone would notice with the dim lighting. He first saw a boy, with untidy brown hair. He assumed this must be Kenta, as he was rubbing his side and wincing. This was the one the girl, Sakuno, had told to shut up.

His eyes moved over Kenta and rested on the girl sitting next to him. He recognized her; she had longish wavy auburn hair. It was the pretty girl form the cafeteria. He squinted through the semidarkness so he could make out her face. A sort of jolt went through him. She had warm, intelligent looking amber eyes. She had a tiny button nose. She had a small mouth shaped like a bow that was currently pursed, as though she were trying not to laugh. Her skin was like porcelain, not a blemish of any kind on it. No doubt. _It was Ryuzaki._

He was astounded. Since when had Ryuzaki been so pretty? And when had she cut her hair? All through middle school she had never once taken her hair out of those braids. He thought they were permanent. He suddenly realized that that was why he hadn't seen her this year. He had seen her, he just hadn't recognized her without her plaits. Her hair was a good length now, he acknowledged. Those braids had been ridiculously long.

The boy, Kenta suddenly leaned in closer to whisper something in her ear. Something suddenly flared up inside of Ryoma, some kind of emotion he couldn't place. Was it anger? No. It was close to anger, but…he didn't know. He couldn't name it. He did know that he did not like that boy leaning in so close to Ryuzaki. Why though? Why should he care? She hadn't had anything to do with him in over two years, and even before that you could barely call them acquaintances.

Ryuzaki grinned at the boy and whispered something back to him. A girl sitting in front of them suddenly turned around and went, "Ssshhh!" crossly. Ryuzaki and the boy looked at each other, and then they both started sniggering uncontrollably. Ryuzaki clamped her hands over her mouth to muffle the noise, while the boy bent over, trying to control himself. He put his hand on Ryuzaki's shoulder to brace himself as they both doubled up.

Finally they got a hold of themselves and were able to sit up straight, although they were both still grinning. The boy did not remove his hand from her shoulder. She didn't shrug it off. The unnamed emotion threatened to engulf him.

As Ryoma attempted to set the boy's hand on fire with eyes, he suddenly realized something. When Sakuno had reprimanded the boy before, she had not stuttered. And even though she had arrived late and been scolded by a stranger, she was not blushing. She didn't even look embarrassed. There was something else about her too. There was something about the way she was holding herself; back straight, head held high. She looked more confident than she had in middle school. Ryoma wondered how much she had changed since the last time he had seen her.

Suddenly something jabbed him hard in the shoulder. "Hey, what are you looking at?" Eiji whispered, following his eye line.

"Nothing," Ryoma said shortly, facing front and staring determinedly at the principal, who was talking about school dress code at the moment.

"Hey, it's that girl!" Eiji whispered excitedly. "Oi Momo, look, it's that girl from before nya!"

"Where, where?" said Momo eagerly, twisting around in his seat and openly peering around.

"Che," Ryoma muttered. Sometimes his sempai were really quite embarrassing. Would it kill them to act their age?

"Hey…" said Eiji slowly. "Is that…" Ryoma's heart sank. With Eiji's eyes, he was sure to recognize her. Maybe they would be mature for once, and not cause a scene. _He thought without a prayer, _he added. He slunk down in his seat and let his hair fall forward to cover his face. No one need know he was with them.

"Who?" Momo was asking. "You know her from somewhere?"

Eiji was, quite frankly, looking shocked. "I…I _think _it is…but it can't be…no. I'm positive it is…but…wow…"

"Who?" said Momo impatiently, "C'mon Eiji, who is she?

"Sakuno Ryuzaki."

Silence. And then-

"RYUZAKI?"

Every head in the auditorium swiveled around, and every pair of eyes turned and fixed on the red haired boy and the spiky haired boy, who were both standing on their seats and staring at a girl in the other section. They took no notice.

"Ryuzaki?" Momo called. Ryoma slunk down lower in his seat. "Oi, Sakuno is that you?"

Ryoma peeked through his hair to see her reaction. She was looking thoroughly shocked, as though she literally could not believe this was happening. "Eiji sempai?" she said in shock, "Momo-chan-sempai?" Ryoma frowned. What had happened to her stutter? Two people she hadn't seen since her first year of middle school had just stood up and shouted at her in the middle of an assembly, and the whole school was watching. Her face should be beet red, and she should be stuttering so badly the words would be barely recognizable. But her voice hadn't so much as trembled, and there wasn't a hint of a blush on her face. What had happened to her?

"I knew it!" Eiji crowed, pumping his fist in the air. "It's Sakuno-chan!"

Momo opened his mouth, presumably to shout something else to Ryuzaki, but-

"Kikumaru! Momoshiro!" the principal barked from the podium. "Sit down and be quiet or I'll give you both detention!" The principal sounded just a touch resentful; probably because no one had ever once been this awake during one of his assemblies before.

Momo and Eiji plopped down obediently, but they kept grinning and turning around to look at Ryuzaki, whom Ryoma noted was still looking shocked. She was whispering to the boy next to her, probably explaining who the two crazy sempai were. The boy was looking rather bemused and kept glancing over at them.

After the assembly, Momo and Eiji ran to catch up with Ryuzaki in the hallway, Ryoma trailing reluctantly behind them.

"Oi Sakuno!" Momo called, running up to her. Sakuno turned to greet them, as did the messy haired boy. She appeared to have gotten over her shock, and was now grinning at Momo and Eiji. She didn't look at Ryoma. He supposed she hadn't noticed him yet.

"Hi Momo-chan-sempai, Eiji sempai," she greeted them cheerfully. Ryoma walked up to them. Her eyes didn't even flicker in his direction.

"It's Sakuno-chan!" Eiji exclaimed, glomping Momo. "We haven't seen you since middle school nya!"

"It's good seeing you two again." You _two? _He was standing right there! She had to see him. Why was she ignoring him?

"This is Kenta," she said, gesturing to the boy beside her. "He's my friend, and he's in AP2 with me."

"Yo," Kenta greeted them. Ryoma sized him up with his eyes. He looked to be the same height as him, give or take an inch. Ryoma was secure enough with himself to acknowledge that he was good looking, with his shaggy brown hair that fell into his chestnut eyes. He had a friendly smile, and Ryoma noted that he was tan and had the same sort of lean, wiry muscles as him. He wondered what sport he played.

"Ah, so he's a Slacker too?" Momo asked. Sakuno and Kenta grinned.

"You guys heard about that too, huh?" Kenta asked.

Momo snorted. "Dude, is there anyone who _didn't _hear about that?"

Sakuno laughed, and Ryoma noticed that she had a pretty laugh. She _still _hadn't acknowledged his presence.

"You know, we didn't recognize you at first," Eiji remarked.

"Yeah," Momo agreed, "what happened to your braids?"

Kenta looked at her curiously. "Braids?" he inquired.

Momo grinned. "You didn't know her in middle school," he explained, "but she always used to wear her hair in plaits. I don't she think she ever took them out."

Kenta laughed and said, "I can't imagine you with braids, Sakuno."

She grinned, looking embarrassed. "I'll show you a picture sometime," she promised. "I just decided to try something new," she said, addressing Momo and Eiji again. "The braids were getting kind of annoying."

"You look good," Momo assured her.

"Yeah, you do nya!" Eiji chimed in.

Just then the bell rang, and the students still lingering in the halls all started to rush to their next class.

"Ah gotta go. My math teacher's gonna chew me out if I'm late again," Momo said.

"Me too nya," said Eiji. "See you around, Sakuno-chan!"

She waved at them as the two took off down the hall. "See you!" she called. Ryoma stared at her. Still not a word. Fine then, he was just going to have to take matters into his own hands.

"Ryuzaki-" he began, stepping forward.

"C'mon Kenta, we're gonna be late," she said coolly, grabbing his arm and turning in the other direction.

"Er, okay," he said, letting himself be steered down the hall. He looked back at Ryoma in surprise; obviously he didn't know why Sakuno was ignoring him either.

Ryoma stood there, staring after them. Then he turned around and slowly made his way to his next class.

* * *

Ryoma accepted his pink slip without comment, then went to take his usual seat in the back of the room. Staring out the window, he tried to convince himself that he didn't care that Ryuzaki had openly ignored him. He tried to tell himself that it didn't matter at all, and he didn't care. He wasn't buying it. He _did _care, he just didn't know _why. _And this frustrated him to no end.

"Echizen!" Ryoma looked up in surprise. His teacher was standing next to his chair, and he did not look pleased.

"Yes?" he asked politely.

The teacher sighed. "Did you hear anything I said in last ten minutes, Echizen?"

"Er…"

"I didn't think so," he said sourly. "We're going to be a long term project with the Slackers. Everyone will draw a name from this hat," he shook the top hat he had in his hand, "and whoever's name is on the slip of paper, that is the person from AP2 that you will be working with. You'll meet with them tomorrow, and that's when we'll give you your project assignments. So hurry up and draw a name."

Ryoma reached into the hat and pulled out the first piece of paper his fingers came in contact with. He turned around again to face the window and commenced staring broodingly at the sparrows in the spruce tree, as if they were the ones who had assigned the stupid project. The sparrows actually looked a little scared of Ryoma's black glare.

These teachers were sadists. They were giving them a long term project on top of all the other crap they had to do? He supposed it would be easier with a partner, but it still sucked. Slumping back in his seat, Ryoma picked up the folded piece of paper. He didn't even know anybody from AP2, no one in his class did. What were his teachers trying to do?

Sighing, he unfolded the piece of paper-and froze. His eyes widened. He stared down at the name written on the slip in disbelief. And then a slow grin spread across his face. He sat up straight and looked out the window triumphantly, as though he was now congratulating the confused sparrows on something.

_Let's see her try and ignore me now._

* * *

What'd ya think? Review! I love Momo and Eiji so much, but I think I overdid it with the "nya"s. Also Kenta is back-I love him as well :) Next chapter I think I'm gonna go into more detail about the Slackers.

Oh, and if you didn't catch it, Sakuno is his partner. ;)


	3. Partners

Author Notes:  
Good Lord I took forever with this update. I mean, I knew I was lazy but _geez. _Especially compared to my last one. Wow. Really, truly sorry I took so long. I'd promise that it won't happen again, but I can't honestly keep that promise. So sorry sorry sorry and please be patient!  
To make up for my tardiness, this chapter is roughly 3,000 words longer than chapter two, and its told from both Ryoma and Sakuno's points of views. Hope ya like it!  
Also, thanks to soni-chan, dijanexryoma-kun, TJcat01, undauntedheiress, Auroramazing, and SparkyXD for commenting on chapter two-I really appreciate it!  
Also again, I forgot to put disclaimers in the first two chapters so:  
Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis (but how _awesome _would that be?) and all characters settings etc used from PoT in chapters 1, 2, 3, and the chapters to come in this story belong one hundred percent to the dude who created it.

**

* * *

****Chapter Three: Partners**

"Oi, Sakuno!"

Sakuno looked up from _A Midsummer Night's Dream _reluctantly_. _Their class was doing a Shakespeare segment, and she was actually enjoying it. Shakespeare's plays were fantastic; she didn't know what Takeshi was complaining about. But then, he always found something to complain about, no matter what book they were assigned.

Running towards her from the other end of the courtyard was, in fact, Takeshi. He skidded to a halt in front of her and knelt down so they were on eye level, panting. Sakuno was sitting on the grass, leaning against her favorite tree on the grounds. It had a strangely thick trunk for a cherry blossom tree, and it had an indentation in it that was perfectly shaped for her upper back and neck. She could sit there for hours getting lost in Shakespeare's world of lovers and fairies and donkey heads. So it was especially annoying when someone interrupted her.

"What is it, Takeshi?" she asked a little impatiently.

"I need…to borrow…your notes…please," he gasped, trying to catch his breath. Sakuno groaned out loud.

"You didn't read the book _again?_" Takeshi had unfortunate habit of never reading the books they were assigned. He was always saying that he didn't have a problem with the classics, but he wished they would do one with some substance. His classmates were always reminding him that _the Lord of the Rings _was not the kind of classic they would likely be reading in school. He also insisted that when he wasn't doing the assigned reading, he was working very hard on other things. They had to remind him that getting to the last level of _Zelda _really was not more important than his homework.

Everyone else had long since stopped giving him their notes; it got just a bit tiresome around the fifteenth time or so. Sakuno was the only one who still fell for his puppy eyes routine. She couldn't help it-she hadn't completely gotten rid of her old personality.

"Come on Takeshi," she said crossly. "We didn't even have to read that much, it was only the first three scenes."

"I know. I was so irresponsible; I don't know how I could have ever forgotten. I'm so, _so_ sorry, it will never happen again. God, I'm so ashamed of myself," he said somberly. He hung his head and clasped his hands in front of him despairingly, the very picture of remorse.

_He's just so full of crap it's not even funny._

"I'm not giving you my notes again, Takeshi," she said firmly. No more Miss Pushover. Then Takeshi raised his head. He locked eyes with her before she could look away. His chocolate eyes were wide and pleading, and shining with unshed tears.

_Damn it._

"Oh…fine," she finally sighed, and tried her best not to feel gratified when his eyes lit up and he beamed at her like she was the Messiah. She was such a _pushover._

"But I mean it, Takeshi, this is the last time," she warned him, handing over her notebook.

"Yeah, yeah. Thanks Sakuno-chan!" He hopped up and sprinted away again, presumably to cram for the test first period on the first three scenes of _A Midsummer Night's Dream. _"I'll get it back to you by homeroom," he shouted over his shoulder, heading over to the library at top speed.

Sakuno shook her head, smiling slightly. It was so hard to stay mad at Takeshi. He was always so energetic; he was always moving. He ran everywhere, and even when he did walk, his strides were so long you had to jog to keep up with him. During class, he leg was always doing that shaking/jiggling thing guys always did, and he was always springing to his feet or bursting into rooms. He either needed to join the track team or take some medication.

"Che. You're still the same as ever after all, eh?" Sakuno's smile froze in place. Her whole body stiffened. _No. No, this isn't happening. _She repeated the words to herself in her head over and over, willing them to be true. He was not there. And he definitely was not talking to her. Nope. Definitely not.

"I mean, I thought that maybe you might have grown a spine after all this time, but I guess not," he continued. Sakuno felt a hot surge of anger at his words, and that gave her the strength to unclench herself enough to look up. Ryoma Echizen was standing in front her, smirking down at her. That smirk seemed to fan the flame of her anger, and it flared up inside of her, pushing her to her feet. At the same time, it pulled at a certain spot in her heart, but she was going to ignore that.

She got to her feet and glared up at him. She literally had to glare _up; _even when she brought herself to her full height, she was only level with his chest.

"What do you want, Echizen?" she demanded icily. She exhaled just a tiny bit in relief; she feared her stutter might return when she spoke to him, but there was no hint of the old tongue spasms. She really had outgrown it at last.

As she was celebrating silently, she also noticed Ryo-_Echizen's _reaction to her words and her tone. His smirk had wavered just the tiniest bit, and something flashed in his eyes for a second, and then the arrogant expression was back in place.

"Just watching the show," he said pleasantly, either not noticing her furious expression, or simply ignoring it. Sakuno had a feeling it was the latter. "'Oh Sakuno-chan please help me, please, please, please!' 'Well, I don't really want to, but I'll just do what you want anyways, because I have no spine.'"

"Shut up, Echizen," she snarled, resisting the urge to call him something not so school appropriate.

He seemed to guess what she was thinking, and his smirk grew. "Make me," he said in the same light tone as before, mocking her with his eyes.

_Kick him in the crotch!_

Sakuno took a deep, steadying breath, trying to dispel all of her violent thoughts. It almost worked. She turned away from him, picked up her bag, and brushed past him, heading towards her classroom even though homeroom didn't start for twenty minutes.

"Hold on," he called after her. "There is actually something I wanted to tell you."

_Then why didn't you say that in the first place, you-_

"What?" she asked shortly, turning around to face him unwillingly. He reached into his pocket and took out a little piece of paper. He held it out to her, eyebrow raised in amusement. She scowled at him. There was now a few feet between them, and if she wanted that paper she was going to have walk towards him. She _really _wanted to just turn around and stalk off-but she was curious. Swallowing her pride, she walked forward and snatched the paper out of his hand. She unfolded it and saw there were too words written on it: _Sakuno Ryuzaki._

She frowned and looked up at him. "Why do you have a piece of paper with my name on it?"

"You know that long term project the two AP classes are doing with each other?"

She nodded, completely nonplussed.

"Well, my class drew names to see which person from the other class we would be partnered with. We reached into a hat, drew out a little slip of paper with the person's name written on it…" he trailed off.

Sakuno was still confused; what the heck was he talking about?

…Then she got it. Little slips of paper…partner's name…

"You…you don't mean…"she began with dawning horror.

He grinned at her and took the paper from her limp fingers. "See you later, partner," he said, strolling away.

Sakuno stood rooted to the spot, staring after him.

_Ryoma Echizen is my partner. I'm going to be working closely with him for the next three months._

_I may vomit._

Sakuno sat in her homeroom seat numbly. This was just so _not _funny. True, the AP classes were small with only ten students each, but what were the odds of her getting paired up with the _one person _she had been trying to avoid for nearly three years now? And quite successfully too, she thought proudly. Until this.

_What am I going to do?_

She really didn't know. Just that short encounter (that short, obnoxious, horrifying, _antagonizing _encounter) had made her heart ache, and a blush had begun to creep its way up her neck, but she had managed to keep it down by channeling her anger. How could someone she loved so much, (and she realized, with a sharp pang in her heart, that she did still love him. Despite her efforts, she still loved him. She had never stopped) make her so goddamned angry? And more importantly, _why _did she love someone who made her so angry? Echizen was obnoxious, and arrogant, and rude, and-she could go on and on. Why couldn't she love someone like…someone like…Kenta!

She jumped a little at the thought. _Kenta? _That was just…weird! He was her best friend!

And then, of all people, Ryoma Echizen sauntered into her thoughts. She didn't even bother trying to push him back out. It seems like that was all a waste anyway, she thought bitterly.

"_He's also handsome, isn't he?" _her imaginary Ryoma inquired of her.

Huh. Usually when Ryoma was in her thoughts, he just bugged the crap out of her until she forced him out. He'd never asked her an actual question before. But yes, she admitted to herself. Kenta _was _good looking.

"_And he's smart as well?" _Ryoma asked her.

Well duh. He wouldn't be in her class if he was dumb.

"_What else do you like about him?" _her little Ryoma asked vaguely. Just like the real Ryoma; never _really _interested in anything.

Well…she'd never thought about it actually. Kenta was just-Kenta. That was why she liked hanging out with him.

"_There must be reasons," _Ryoma pressed. _"You wouldn't be friends with him if there weren't things you liked about him."_

I like him because he's a good friend, she thought testily. She didn't think the real Ryoma was this nosy.

"_But why is he a good friend?"_

Because-he just-is! Sakuno thought impatiently. He was nice and loyal and trustworthy. She could tell him anything, and he always made her laugh, and she loved hanging out with him. He was a good person. All the qualities that made up a good-a fantastic-best friend.

"_All the qualities that could, potentially, make up a good...boyfriend?" _her Ryoma suggested casually.

Sakuno nearly fell out of her chair.

He's not-he couldn't be-he's just-

She never got around to forming a coherent thought though, as just then her Ryoma shrugged. _"Just something to think about," _and then he strolled out of her mind.

What. The. _Hell._

Sakuno's thoughts floundered as she tried to put them into an intelligible order. She took deep, steadying, breaths, as was her habit, and rubbed her temples, closing her eyes as she did so. One thought at a time.

Okay, so first, she was accepting that she was in love with Ryoma. Her heart throbbed but she ignored it. The years apart hadn't done anything to change that. True, a lot of things about her had changed, but that one particular part of her seemed set in stone. _But stones can move too _she thought grimly. Maybe her feelings for Ryoma wouldn't be something she could easily fix, like her stutter or her blushing, but she had to believe it was possible. That even though she loved him now, she could make herself feel differently someday. She nodded to herself. There was hope; she could still get over him. She just had to try harder.

Moving on. Next, her subconscious had gone one step further in its attempt to make her insane. Her brain had actually created a Ryoma that spoke to her in her head. And she was talking back to it. Not out loud, but still, it was weird. To say the least. It was like that cricket from the kids movie, she thought to herself. Only instead of a helpful little bug with a top hat that helped her make good decisions, she got a little version of the person she was unfortunately in love with giving her potentially deadly romantic advice.

Which brought her to her next thought. Kenta…as a boyfriend? It felt weird, even in her head. Yes, her Ryoma had brought up a good point. Those _were _qualities that made up a good boyfriend…for someone else. Kenta was like a brother to her. And besides, Misaki had all the same qualities he had, and she wasn't about to go out with her.

That settled it for her. She would forget any thoughts of Kenta being her boyfriend that her Ryoma had tried to plant in her head. _"'Just something to think about.'" _Yeah right.

And then the last thing that was troubling her…_What was she going to do about Echizen? _She bit her lip and stared down at her desk. She really just didn't know. How was she going to be able to stand it…working so closely with him for three to four months…One part of her heart seemed to sing, while the other part throbbed painfully.

_What am I going to do?_

Her mind was an absolute blank. Just then the bell rang, signally the start of homeroom. She tried to control her expression as her previously empty homeroom started to fill up with her fellow classmates. She wasn't sure how successful she was.

She greeted everyone vaguely as they took their seats, keeping her head down. No one paid her much attention, as they were eager to spend their next fifteen minutes of freedom before classes started chatting, or, in Takeshi's case, cramming. Seven members of her class believed her ploy of, 'everything's normal' without question.

Two, however, were not so easily fooled.

"What's up with you?" Misaki demanded the moment she saw Sakuno's face.

"Nothing," Sakuno said, trying for nonchalance and failing spectacularly.

Kenta raised an eyebrow and Misaki snorted in disbelief. Sakuno didn't blame them; she'd always been a rotten liar.

"What's up?" Kenta asked curiously, taking his seat next to her.

"Yeah, spill it," Misaki demanded, taking her seat behind him.

Sakuno opened her mouth to spout some more pathetic lies, when something stopped her. What was she doing? Why was she lying to them? They weren't like Tomoka. Sakuno felt guilty thinking it, but it was true. Tomoka was a good friend in many respects, but she just couldn't keep a secret. However, she trusted Kenta and Misaki more than anyone. She could tell them.

She took a deep breath and glanced over her shoulder. The rest of the class was chatting in the middle and back of the room, completely oblivious to the conversation going on in the front. She twisted around so that her back was to the window and she was facing her two friends.

"There is something bothering me," she admitted.

"What is it?" Kenta asked, looking concerned.

Sakuno hesitated, biting her lip. She'd never told anyone this before…Could she really trust them?

"Sakuno, whatever it is, we won't tell anyone," Misaki said earnestly, echoing her thoughts. Sakuno smiled to herself. All three of them all seemed to know what the others were thinking. It was a strange but not unpleasant part of their friendship. Sakuno felt instantly ashamed of herself. Of course she could trust them.

"I'm sorry," she apologized. "It's just that I've never told anyone this before."

"You can trust us," Kenta assured her.

"I know I can," she said. She took a deep breath, readying herself. They watched her, waiting patiently.

"Okay," she said, more to herself than to them. "It's like this. You know that project we're doing with AP1? The long term one that no one knows what it's about?"

They nodded slowly.

"Well…this morning, I found out who my partner is." She scowled slightly at the memory.

"Who?" Misaki asked.

"Echizen. R-Ryoma Echizen." Huh. So the stutter wasn't completely gone after all. She couldn't say his first name. That might be a problem.

"Echizen…"Misaki muttered to herself. "Echizen… Isn't he that tennis star everyone's always talking about? The really hot one with the hazel eyes and the green black hair?"

Sakuno nodded her assent. Kenta had frowned when Misaki had mentioned Echizen's hair. "Hey, is he the one who was with those two sempai the other day? The ones from your middle school?"

Sakuno nodded again. Echizen had tried to say something to her, but she had taken off. She'd known that whatever he had been planning to say would have been obnoxious or hurtful, and she really hadn't been sure she could handle talking to him. If only she'd known what the next day would bring…

"Why'd you ignore him?" Kenta asked her, interrupting her reverie. "I mean, he tried to talk to you, and you just totally blew him off. What was that about?"

Misaki frowned at them. "Echizen tried to talk to Sakuno and she blew him off?" she asked Kenta.

"Yep."

"Why?" she asked, directing her question at Sakuno this time.

"Well, I've been sort of…ignoring him completely for the past two years," she said awkwardly.

"What'd he do to you?" Kenta asked, sounding slightly shocked. Sakuno wasn't the type to hold a grudge.

"Nothing really…" she said slowly, trying to explain. "I mean…yes, he did do something…but mostly I think I did it to myself."

"Sakuno, I don't understand," Misaki said, her brow furrowed. "What happened between you and Ryoma Echizen?"

"See…Echizen and I went to the same middle school," Sakuno began, "and even back then he was amazing at tennis. I was always so impressed with him. But even more than that, I…I loved him," she said, her cheeks flushing, which hardly ever happened anymore. Misaki's eyebrows shot up, and for some reason Kenta frowned, like her middle school crush bothered him.

"You were in love with Ryoma Echizen?" Misaki asked in a low voice so that their classmates wouldn't hear.

Sakuno nodded in confirmation and continued. Now that she had started, she felt like she had to finish the story. After keeping it locked up tight inside of her for so long, it was now finally all coming out.

"Yeah…I loved him so much. I supported him the whole time he was on the tennis team, all the way up to Nationals. And then…he left. He went to America, to play tennis there. I was really upset, but I tried to keep my spirits up. I told myself that he would come back one day; he'd never really seemed to like America all that much anyway. He would come back…someday. And that made me hopeful. I wrote to him, but he didn't write back. I was disappointed, but I kept telling myself it was alright, one day I'd see him again.

"And I did-I just didn't expect it to be so soon. About a month into our second year, I was walking by the tennis courts, and I heard Momo-chan-sempai telling everyone that Echizen was back in Japan, and back in Seishun. He was back, and he was here to stay. At first my mind was just blank-and then I was running. I ran through the whole school looking for him, and then I finally found him on the roof.

"I was so…elated to see him again. I was so happy, that I did something incredibly stupid. It was so _stupid. _I really have no idea what I was thinking. I told him. That I loved him, I mean. I told Echizen that I loved him.

"I don't know what I was expecting. He'd never returned any of my feelings, never once indicated that he might feel the same way. He-" and here Sakuno stopped. She remembered what came next, and her heart throbbed as painfully as it did on that day. She knew she couldn't stop now, but she'd worked so hard to block out that day…

Misaki leaned forward and took Sakuno's hand in both of hers. Her blue eyes were warm and trusting. "What happened next, Sakuno-chan?" she asked gently. "What did he say?"

Misaki must have known that he turned her down, but she seemed to understand that Sakuno needed to get this out of her system. Kenta was oddly silent.

"He…told me that he didn't feel the same way." Saying the words out loud seemed to make the hole in her heart, the one _he_ had made, grow a little bigger. But she also felt better, having said it out loud to someone. Misaki patted her hand sympathetically, and her silent support gave Sakuno the strength to keep going.

"So yeah. I told him how I felt, and he told me that he didn't feel the same way. Most girls would have gotten over it eventually but I…didn't. I haven't." Misaki's hand froze for a second before she resumed her patting, acting as though she wasn't as shocked as she was. Kenta's jaw clenched, but she didn't waste time wondering what that meant. She wasn't going to stop now.

"I mean, it's not like I haven't _tried_," she insisted. "I did everything I could to get over him. I ignored him, cut him out of my life completely. This morning was the first time I've spoken to him in over two years, and yet…it's like nothing changed. Even though he broke my heart, I still love him."

"Love is irrational," Misaki said, and for some reason she glanced over at Kenta. He didn't notice though; he staring at Sakuno.

"I suppose," Sakuno said glumly. "Anyways…so it's been years since I've talked to him, and now all of a sudden I have to spend three or four months with him! I don't know what to do," she said hopelessly.

"Well," Misaki said slowly, "what do you want to do?"

Sakuno stared at her. "…I just said I don't know."

"I know. I meant, do you want to get over him, or do you want to…you know, go in the other direction?" Misaki clarified. Kenta suddenly got very stiff.

"Get over him," Sakuno said firmly. Kenta relaxed. "But the thing is, I don't know _how._"

"Well Sakuno-chan, I'm not really sure you can," Misaki said gently.

"Why not?" Sakuno and Kenta demanded at the same time. The girls looked at him in surprise, and he ducked his head, blushing.

"Well," Misaki began, still eyeing Kenta with a raised eyebrow, "ignoring him didn't do anything the last time. So that means this is more than a crush. You're really in love with him. And if that's the case, there's only one thing you can do to fall _out _of love."

"What?" Sakuno asked impatiently. "What do I have to do?"

"Fall in love with someone else."

Sakuno stared at her. "Misa-chan. I can't just _fall in love with somebody. _I'm pretty sure that's not how it works."

"Of course it's not. Maybe it won't happen this year. Maybe it won't happen till your thirty. But until you fall in love with somebody else, you will stay in love with Ryoma Echizen."

Sakuno stared at her bleakly. "Thirty?" she asked in a strangled voice. "Couldn't I…Couldn't I just…make myself not love him or something?"

"Um…you could _try_…" Misaki said dubiously.

Sakuno closed her eyes and rubbed her temples furiously; she suddenly had a massive head ache.

"Okay," she said slowly without opening her eyes. "Let's forget about the long term. What am I supposed to do _right now. _What do I do about the project? How am I going to handle working one on one with him for so long?"

"Well if you're trying to get over him, I think your best option is a freeze out," Misaki said matter-of-factly.

Hmm. It definitely had potential. "What exactly would that entail?" Sakuno asked curiously.

"Like you said, you're going to be working closely with him. There's gonna be a lot of one on one time, and there's nothing you can do to change that," Misaki began. "So when you're working with him, just freeze him out. Don't make eye contact, talk to him as little as possible, and keep a distinct distance between the two of you. Also, do as much of the work as you can separately. Do as little together as possible. If you can do that, I think you'll survive till the project's over."

"I like that," Sakuno said, a slow grin spreading across her face. "I really like that. Yeah, I think that'll work! And then when the project's over I can get back to ignoring him like usual." She was feeling incredibly relieved. She should have thought of that idea in the first place! It would have saved her all that worrying.

"So…" Kenta began hesitantly. Sakuno looked at him in surprise.

"What's up, Ken?" she asked.

"So…you're really trying to get over him? You don't want to be in love with him?"

"Not at _all_," she said firmly.

"Alright then," he said, abruptly cheerful. The first bell rang and he flashed her a wide grin before turning to face the front of the room, looking rather pleased about something. Misaki faced forward too, glaring at the back of Kenta's head and looking put out.

_What's that all about? _Sakuno wondered, mystified. She decided she must just be imagining things. Now that her Ryoma problem was settled, she could focus on other things-like the test first period. She was pretty sure she knew the first three scenes well enough, but she went over the key points in her head, making sure.

The second bell rang and everyone in the school seemed to get up as one to head over to their first period classes. Takeshi ran over to thank her and give her notebook back, and the strange emotions she thought she had seen on Kenta's and Misaki's faces had gone. Feeling more cheerful than she had all morning, Sakuno followed them out the door, hopefully to ace the Literature quiz.

* * *

Ryoma stalked over to his first period class, glowering at everyone who dared to make eye contact. He shoved his way past two burly third years who looked as though they were about to start something, but thought better of it when they caught the look on his face. He actually sent one freshman girl into hysterics when she tried to give him a love letter, and accidentally met his gaze. He didn't take the letter and he didn't bother trying to comfort her. She'd get over it, not that he cared either way.

He was in a rotten mood.

And when Ryoma Echizen is in a bad mood, then for the love of God stay away from him.

He took his standard seat in the back of the classroom and glowered out the window. The Math teacher looked like she was about to call on him, but then she saw his face and decided she should let someone else try. He was fine with it. He didn't want to do math today. He didn't want to anything but try to set the tree outside the window on fire using only his anger as a lighter. So far it was proving ineffective, but he was angry enough that he thought _something _should combust, if not himself.

This morning had not gone at all like he'd planned.

"_What do you want, Echizen?" _

What had _that_ been? He couldn't ever remember seeing her that angry, and especially not at him. She was Sakuno, the Coach's blushing granddaughter with a stutter. She didn't _get _angry.

"_What do you want, Echizen?"_

He gritted his teeth. Okay, so maybe he had been a _bit_ annoying, but really there was no need for such a strong reaction. She had been _furious. _She hadn't blushed either, not once, nor did she stutter. This irritated him. In the past, if he even looked at her, her face would go crimson and she wouldn't be able to string two words together. It bothered him that his presence no longer caused that same reaction from her, but he couldn't say exactly why.

"_What do you want, Echizen?"_

And since when the hell did she call him Echizen anyway? Wasn't it always, "'R-Ryoma-kun?'" He liked it when she used his first name. It sounded _right _somehow, when she said it.

He frowned to himself. What was going on with him? Why did he suddenly care so much about Ryuzaki of all people? She wasn't anything to him. She was just some girl from his old middle school. Just some girl who didn't swoon when she saw him like every other girl he met did. Just some girl who didn't look twice at him (hell, she didn't look _once _at him) when he walked down the hall. Just some girl who didn't talk down to him like his coach and his parents and his teachers did. Just some girl who didn't act like she expected him to be the best at _everything, _to win every game, to ace every test, and to do it like it was nothing at all. Just some girl who, when she spoke to him at all, treated him like he was just some boy. Not Ryoma Echizen, the tennis star. Not Ryoma Echizen, the smartest kid in the school. Just some boy, and nothing more.

And he realized, with a jolt, that he liked that. He liked that there was one person in this school who didn't worship the ground he walked on, who didn't treat him like he was anything special. She treated him like he was the extreme opposite of special.

And he realized, with another jolt, that he liked _her. _He liked that her large amber eyes always seemed to glow with intelligence. He liked that her longish auburn hair wasn't straight, but it wasn't exactly curly either, and he liked that she still held her bangs back with the same pink flower barrette she'd used in middle school. He liked that she seemed confident in herself. He liked that she was still kind and loyal to her friends. He even liked that she didn't seem to like him.

_Well. This changes things. _

He had never thought of Ryuzaki… "that way" before. He hadn't been interested in girls in middle school; he was too focused on tennis. And he had assumed, without actually thinking about it, that high school would be the same. He didn't care about girls or dating or any of it-until now, apparently.

He had noticed before that he had this strange feeling in his stomach when he thought of Ryuzaki. His stomach squirmed a little, and his chest felt lighter, and he felt the urge to smile at nothing. (The smiling should have tipped him off. He hardly ever smiled even when the occasion called for it). He also had this strange notion that just being with her would make him happier than even tennis could, which was just insane. Now, thinking about Ryuzaki, he found that he also felt uncomfortable and even embarrassed as he realized what that emotion was: _Love._

He cringed away from the word, feeling truly embarrassed now. He was Ryoma Echizen! He didn't _fall in love _(cringe). It was just so…so humiliating! He tried to think what Momo's and Eiji's reactions would be if he told them he was in love with Sakuno Ryuzaki. That was easy: They would be rolling on the floor, clutching their sides, in absolute hysterics for as long as ten minutes. And then, after they got over that, they would tease him mercilessly for the rest of his life. He would never hear the end of it. So obviously, he was never going to tell them.

But…he should tell Ryu-Sakuno, right? Isn't that what people normally did in these situations? But what if she didn't feel the same way? He grimaced to himself. He couldn't imagine anything more awful than being rejected by the person you loved. That would be horrible. And he was pretty sure that Sakuno did not share his feelings, judging by the way she had acted today. She had been absolutely horrified when he had told her they would be partners-hey!

He suddenly beamed, remembering. They were partners. So no matter what she thought of him now, she was going to have to spend the next three to four months working with him. That was a long time… enough time to change someone's feelings?

Possibly. It was definitely possible.

The bell rang, interrupting his thoughts. He was about to leave with the rest of his class, when his teacher held up a hand to stop them.

"Hold on," she said. "Instead of going to your normal second period class, you are to go the Slacker's…er…Class AP2's homeroom. Find your partner, get yourselves acquainted, and then someone will be in to tell you more about your projects."

The students gave murmured assents as they fled from the room, eager to escape before they were called back for something else.

Ryoma scanned the room and saw her sitting in the front row next to the window. Kenta was sitting next her, he noticed with displeasure, as was her pretty friend with the long black hair and blue eyes.

He made his way toward them, and was surprised when her friends' eyes narrowed in dislike at his approach.

_Oh come on. What did I do to _them?

He kept his face as expressionless as ever as he came up to them___. "_Yo," he greeted them carelessly.

Kenta nodded stiffly. The girl's jaw locked and she continued to glower at him.

"Kenta…Misa-chan…" Sakuno reprimanded them quietly. Ryoma looked at her. She looked faintly embarrassed with her friends' behavior. She hadn't looked at him yet. Now it was Ryoma's turn to glower. Was she _still_ ignoring him? What had he ever done to her that was so horrible?

"We'd better go find our partners, Sakuno," the girl (Misa?) said coolly, brushing past Ryoma and heading towards the clump of uncertain looking AP1 students clustered by the door.

"We'll see you later," Kenta told her, though he was looking at Ryoma as he said it. Actually _glaring_ might be more appropriate. Ryoma's eyes narrowed and he glared right back. He knew a threat when he heard it. Geez, what did they think he was going to do to her?

"Kenta," Sakuno said warningly. Kenta frowned at her briefly, then stalked off, shooting Ryoma one more glare as he went.

Sakuno sighed in exasperation but still didn't look at him. Ryoma took the desk next to her and turned to face her. She didn't look at him.

"So are you just going to freeze me out the whole time we're working together?" he demanded in frustration. Sakuno jumped and her cheeks flushed very slightly. She looked very guilty.

He glared at her. She sighed and finally turned to face him warily, the blush fading from her cheeks. "No," she said reluctantly. "I guess I'm not."

Ryoma blinked in surprise, and then grinned at her. "You were actually planning on doing that, weren't you?" he snickered.

She scowled at him. "Do you have _any_ idea how obnoxious you are?" she demanded.

"Some," he said lightly. "But seriously, how did you think you could ignore your partner? That's kind of impossible, isn't it?"

"I'd have managed," she snidely.

"Would you have?" Ryoma asked curiously.

"I…think so," she said slowly. "At least, I thought I could. But I forgot how incredibly annoying you can be."

Ryoma grinned. Who cared if she thought he was annoying? At least they were having an actual conversation now. He suddenly sensed a pair of eyes on his back. He turned around and caught the black haired girl hastily turning her head back towards her partner.

"What's up with your friends?" he asked Sakuno in annoyance. "What did I ever do to them?"

"You didn't do anything to _them_," she said. Ryoma frowned at the inflection. "They're just…really good friends." She sounded exasperated, but Ryoma saw the slight smile on her lips.

"You really like them, don't you?" he asked her. "Not just Kenta and that other girl-the rest of your class too."

And then she smiled the first real smile he had seen on her since…he actually couldn't remember the last time she had smiled like that in his presence.

"Yeah," she said. "I really do."

"Tell me about them," he demanded suddenly. He wondered which one of them looked more surprised. Where had that come from?

"Why do you care?" she asked, not trying to be rude, just honestly curious.

_I don't know._ "I'm just curious," he said with a shrug. "My class isn't like yours." That was true enough. No one in his class talked to anyone outside of their own clique. Except for him; he didn't talk to anyone.

"What do you want to know?" she asked warily.

"Just what they're like. Your classmates."

"Well," she began slowly, "not counting me, there are nine of them."

"Count yourself," he said, being difficult on purpose.

"Ten then," she said exasperatedly. She opened her mouth to begin again, then stopped and glared at him. He raised an eyebrow, a silent question.

"No more interruptions," she said firmly. "Or I won't tell you anything."

"Not a word," he promised, smiling angelically. Sakuno rolled her eyes and continued.

"Okay, so first there's Kenta; you met him." Ryoma tried not to scowl, as he remembered his hand on her shoulder in the darkness of the auditorium. "He's one of my best friends, and he's also the nicest person I've ever met. He plays baseball-"

"Knew it," Ryoma muttered; he could tell that he played a sport, judging from the lean, wiry muscles on his arms, he just hadn't been sure which one. Sakuno glared at him, and he clamped his hand over his mouth in mock horror. She almost laughed-her lips twitched and her eyes sparkled, but then she controlled her expression and continued like he hadn't spoken.

"Next is Misaki. She's the girl from before, with the long black hair and blue eyes. She's a lot like Kenta; incredibly nice, loyal friend, and she's also a regular on the girls' tennis team with me."

Wait-Sakuno's a _regular?_ He opened his mouth to ask about that, but Sakuno raised an eyebrow at him (sort of mocking him, he assumed) and he closed it again. Another time.

She pointed towards the back of the room, where a student from his class was talking to a girl with violet eyes and short purple tinted black hair that didn't quite reach her chin. "That's Sayuri, and over there by the door is her twin brother, Seji." Ryoma glanced toward the door and saw a boy who also had violet colored eyes and purple tinted hair. "Before you ask, the hair and eyes are natural. Weird genetic mix. Anyways, Sayuri's the older one, and she's also a really passionate feminist, so watch what you say around her.

"Seji's one of the class clowns, along with Kyo," she said, pointing to a boy with spiky black hair standing near the back of the room. "They're both really smart, of course, but they're always messing around and getting into trouble. They're pretty much always in a good mood, and they're really creative; the Slackers' Chat Room was actually their idea.

"Next is Yumi," she gestured to a girl with curly light brown hair that was longer than Sayuri's but shorter than Sakuno's, "and Kimiko," she said, pointing to a girl with bright green eyes and black hair that was pulled up in a ponytail. "They're like Seji and Kyo, practically joined at the hip. Yumi's kind of shy, but she's incredibly kind, and she's an amazing artist. Kim's in the drama club, and she's actually trying out for the senior musical. It doesn't matter that she's a freshman; she's got such an incredible voice, she'll definitely get the lead.

"That's Hikaru," she pointed to a boy with smooth black hair and round glasses. "He's a genius, the smartest kid in our class by far. He probably could have skipped a grade if he wanted. He's in the fencing club, and he's really good. And that's Takeshi," she pointed at a tall skinny boy with sandy hair that stuck up in every direction, like he'd been running really fast, except that it looked permanent. Ryoma recognized him as the boy who had begged Sakuno for his notes earlier. "He doesn't do any extracurricular activities, but he should; he's constantly in motion, never completely still. He's kind of a nerd, but in a cool way, and he never reads the books we're assigned-ever. But he still does really well, probably because he always tricks me into giving him my notes, the jerk.

"And that's it; those are my classmates."

"You forgot one," Ryoma said. She blinked at him, then looked around the room in surprise, looking for the missed person.

"No, I didn't," she said, turning back to Ryoma and frowning.

"You forgot yourself," he said.

She rolled her eyes. "I don't count."

"Yes you do. You said you would tell me about your ten classmates, counting you," he reminded her.

"You already know about me," she protested.

"Doesn't matter," he said firmly. "Describe yourself to me like you did your classmates."

"Fine," she sighed in defeat. "_Tenthly_ is Sakuno."

"And what's she like?" Ryoma asked curiously.

"No interrupting," she reminded him. He smirked. "She…has brown hair with some red in it, and brown eyes. She is slightly below average in height, but only by half an inch so everyone should just get off her back already. Um…she likes reading, especially Shakespeare, and yes, _the Lord of the Rings _too, but that's not her fault, Takeshi got her hooked. She does pretty well in school, and she works hardest in Literature and English, because she'd really like to go to America and teach Literature there, or maybe write her own stories one day, and-" she broke off, embarrassed.

"Hmm…She'd like to go to America?" he asked, amused by her embarrassment.

Sakuno pursed her lips and didn't say anything. Ryoma sighed. It looked like she was back to ignoring him.

A few minutes of silence later their English teacher, Ms. Yamanashi, walked in and told them all to settle down.

"Alright," she began, "now that you're all acquainted with each other, I'm going to tell you more about your projects. So far, no one's really told you anything, except that it's going to a long term project lasting up to four months, and that the two AP classes are working together. The reason for that is that the AP students are sort of separated from the rest of the school, and we want you to at least know each other.

"And now, I'm sure you're all wondering what your project topics are. The topic is: whatever you want."

The students stared at Ms. Yamanashi, then at each other, and then back at her again.

_Huh?_

She laughed, "I know, it's pretty different from the other projects you've been assigned so far this year. Look, we teachers are aware that you guys are given a lot of work, much more than the other freshmen, and we know that the last thing you want is another project. But the purpose of this is to test your time management skills, and your ability to work with others. For those of you with good time management skills, this really shouldn't be that difficult. For the rest of you, this will be sort of a wakeup call. You really _cannot_ leave this project until the last minute. We've made sure that this is a project you can't do overnight in a chat room." Ms Yamanashi was careful not to make eye contact with anyone from class AP2, but they all stiffened and stared at her with varying levels of anger.

Ryoma suddenly realized what this project was really about. Pairing up the AP2 kids with AP1 kids, making it a big, long term project…this was just to teach the Slackers a lesson. He knew that the teachers were all just a little bitter, frustrated that their students all waited till the night before, did the assignment together, and all got near perfect grades. Everyone knew that the teachers would love to do something about it but…There was nothing technically wrong with teachers giving students projects, but something about this, the reason behind it…it seemed below the belt.

Ryoma looked around the room and realized that it wasn't just AP2 kids glaring up at Ms. Yamanashi. Everyone had realized what was going on, and they all felt the same about it: this was wrong.

"Anyways," Ms. Yamanashi went on smoothly, ignoring the death glares she was receiving from all sides, "here are the guidelines: You must have a topic by Monday. You must be able to do research on the topic. The topic should be something that both you and your partner enjoy. When you present you will need to have notes, a research paper, a bibliography, and a visual aid. The presentation should be approximately ten minutes. You may have the next few minutes before the bell rings to discuss ideas with your partners," she said, turning to leave the room. She paused at the door. "Oh, and someone will be checking in with you every few weeks, to make sure that you're progressing," she said in a tone that made it sound like a threat. She smiled at them and left the room.

It was quiet for a minute, and then everyone started muttering mutinously to each other.

"I don't believethis," Sakuno hissed to herself. "This is a punishment! They're trying to prove that they're still in charge of us, that they're more clever than we are! I don't _believe_ this!"

Ryoma nodded in agreement, but she didn't seem to notice. He couldn't tell if she was ignoring him, or if she was just too angry to notice, but suddenly he was angry too. _What the hell was her problem?_ He decided he was done being patient. She was going to tell him why she had been avoiding him for so long, and she was going to do it _right now_.

"What's your problem?" he asked her angrily.

She looked surprise at his change in tone. "Huh?" she asked.

"You haven't spoken to me since our first year of middle school. You're _still_ not speaking to me, and you only are now because we're being forced together. Geez, what did I ever do to you that was so horrible?"

She looked like he'd slapped her. The bell rang but neither of them got up.

"Well?" he demanded, still angry. "What is it? What did I do to you? What did I do that was so awful?"

Sakuno was suddenly looking furious-no, more than that. She was _livid._

"If you don't know," she said so viciously that Ryoma actually leaned away from her, "then I'm not going to tell you."

And with that, she gathered up her books and swept from the room, leaving Ryoma still sitting at the desk, more confused than ever.

* * *

End Notes:  
What'd ya think? Review! Also, heads up for the next chapter, I'm thinkin of bringing in Fuji. It's past time he made an appearance ;)  
Thanks again for reading and I promise I'll try to be quicker about the updates!


	4. Realizations

Author's Notes:

Oh, Wow. I don't even...I don't think I can ever apologize enough. I'll try to be better in the future, I promise!

Let's give some shout outs to Maria-Reynne, G-KeeRyuu, Bunny Sailor Moon, TJcat01, Rysthern, sakura0617 , GoldenDoe06 , undauntedheiress, LilBlueBear, Zero Blade, patrengkee, Terra7x, nayuta, SasoLOVE111, reichimassu, neurogal09 , Otakugal, anitsirhc, LinchEe, Yumi14, yoyoyo, luv-u-alwayz94, and digilalalalalove.

Thanks for reviewing! Even if I don't reply (cos I'm lazy as all hell), I really do appreciate all feedback. Also thankssomuch to everyone who added this story to their favorite, or even just read it-really anyone who has bothered to put up with me, I love you forever.  
Well, here it is, the long-awaited ending to chapter four. Like a year later. Jeezum. Sosososososososososo sorry.

* * *

**Chapter Four: Realizations**

Since Ryoma had no idea what the hell Sakuno's problem was, he decided to vent his frustrations through the morning practice matches.

"Oi Ochibi! Take it easy will you? This isn't a real match nya!"

Ryoma didn't waste time apologizing or feeling remorseful in the least. If he didn't give it everything he had, it wouldn't be much of a practice. True, his sudden brute force, pinpoint accuracy, and furious expression might be a bit alarming, but Eiji would just have to get over it.

"Suck it up, sempai!" he called, getting ready for another twist serve.

Just then Tezuka, who had finished his match, leaving his unfortunate victim spread eagled and panting on the court, called out, "Morning practices are finished! Everyone, get changed and go to homeroom. Freshmen, pick up the balls. Good work everyone!"

Muttering mutinously, Ryoma bent down and started retrieving balls with the other freshmen.

"Something wrong, Echizen?"

Ryoma looked up in surprise. Fuji sempai was smiling down at him as though he'd been standing there the whole time, though Ryoma hadn't heard him approach.

"Oh-hey Fuji-sempai," he said, recovering. He straightened up and starting lobbing the balls into one of the baskets stationed around the courts.

"Girl trouble?" Fuji inquired pleasantly, picking up a few balls himself.

Ryoma's hand jerked spasmodically, and the ball he had just hit flew across the court, hitting Kaidoh square in the back of the head. Kaidoh spun around furiously and his gaze fell on Momo, who was standing nearby and was doubled over laughing. Kaidoh stormed over and the two promptly began shouting at each other. No one ever bothered trying to break them up anymore.

Ryoma pulled his cap down low over his eyes, avoiding both the scene he had caused and Fuji's question. It was so creepy how his sempai always seemed to know exactly what everyone was thinking. _Not_ that he had been thinking about girls, or any girl in particular, and he certainly didn't have girl troubles.

Right.

In fact, he was just considering saying so to Fuji, when the girls' tennis team walked by, having just finished their morning practice. His sharp eyes picked out Sakuno almost immediately. She was walking with that girl Misaki near the back of the group. The two of them were both wearing Regular uniforms; white skirts with blue jerseys similar to the ones the boys' team wore. Ryoma couldn't help but feel surprised. Even though she had told him she was a Regular, he still found it hard to believe. She really must have improved a _lot _since middle school.

He pushed his cap back up, hoping she would see and recognize him. But she and Misaki were talking animatedly, and didn't even glance in his direction.

_"If you don't know, then I'm not going to tell you."_

He gritted his teeth and turned around, to find Fuji sempai watching him closely, smile in place, blue eyes sparkling. Ryoma flushed. Somehow he got the feeling Fuji-sempai had watched him watching Sakuno, and knew exactly what his "girl trouble" was.

"Sakuno Ryuzaki, huh?" he asked Ryoma slyly.

Cheeks blazing, Ryoma pulled his cap back down and made as if to stalk off, but hesitated. Fuji seemed to know just about everything right? Maybe…

"Fuji-sempai…" he started uncertainly.

"Yes?" Fuji prompted, still looking at him with those unerringly blue eyes.

"So…I've got this friend-" he winced. He couldn't believe he was going with the, 'I've got this_ friend_, and he has a problem' approach. Lame. Unforgivably lame.

"Really," said Fuji, grinning. "And has he got a problem?"

_Really_ Ryoma thought,_ next time the stove is broken, I should tell Mom not to bother go getting it fixed. Just get me to try and talk about girls, wait for my face to heat up to the proper level of mortification, and fry the eggs on that._

He coughed and pulled his cap down over his face, which was glowing like the setting sun. He was Ryoma Echizen, dammit! Since when the hell did he blush, anyways? "Erm-yeah, he has," he muttered, struggling on bravely. "See…there's this girl…and she's been avoiding him for nearly three years now, and he has no idea why. So, he finally gets her to talk a bit, but you know, the whole cold shoulder thing is still really getting to him, so I-he- finally just asked her what the hell her problem was…"

"Bet that went over well," commented Fuji.

Ryoma grimaced. "She said, 'If you don't know, then I'm not going to tell you.' What the hell does that_ mean_?" he asked in frustration.

"I think it means that your friend did something to this girl to make her angry."

"Obviously," said Ryoma impatiently. "Or at least, the girl only_ thinks_ he did something, because I-he-can't think of one thing he might have done to upset Saku-this girl."

"Mmmm…"

Ryoma raised an eyebrow at his sempai.

"Well," said Fuji carefully, "it's just that girls have remarkably accurate memories-especially about things that have upset them, and people they should hold a grudge against. So it's doubtful that she's remembering wrong."

"Maybe she is though," Ryoma pressed. "Maybe she's remembering something entirely wrong."

"Maybe," Fuji agreed, without any ounce of conviction at all. Ryoma glared at him.

"What do _you_ think the problem is then?" he asked roughly, chucking balls in every direction while the Freshmen desperately chased after them with their arms over their heads.

"I think maybe your friend is the one with memory issues."

"I think we'll have to agree to disagree on that one, sempai," said Ryoma firmly.

"Right," said Fuji amusedly, lobbing a ball into one of the baskets. "Well," he said after a pause, "when you see your friend again, tell him he should find a quiet place and really think back-just to see if maybe he is remembering things wrong."

"I'll pass that along," Ryoma muttered, lobbing the last ball and quickly walking away. If hadn't been so mortified and disgusted with himself, he might have looked back. But he didn't, so he didn't see Fuji staring after him with a mischievous smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, blue eyes glittering wickedly.

* * *

Ryoma drummed his fingers on the desk impatiently. Maybe some people liked the free fifteen minutes every morning to talk much more loudly than is probably necessary, but the way he saw it, it was just fifteen more minutes he had to be in this prison, and with a schedule like his, every second of freedom counted.

Fourteen minutes left.

He resisted the urge to groan out loud and slumped down in his seat, closing his eyes. Ah well. He probably would have spent any free minutes at home sleeping anyways, so it wasn't really that different. Still, it was the principle of the thing.

_"When you see your friend again, tell him he should find a quiet place and really think back-just to see if maybe he is remembering things wrong."_

Ryoma frowned and opened his eyes. He was sure he was right. Maybe he had been rude and cold to Sakuno in the past, but he knew he had never done anything to warrant such a strong and hostile reaction. He was _sure_ that-

_"Girls have remarkably accurate memories-especially about things that have upset them, and people they should hold a grudge against."_

Ryoma sat up straight, muttering a string of obscenities under his breath, all thoughts of getting a little rest evaporating. Fine. He'd try the damn memory trick. It wasn't exactly a quiet place, but it wasn't like he could go anywhere else, and if he didn't do it now it would just bug the crap out of him all day. He glanced at the clock. Twelve minutes. That should be enough time for a groundbreaking revelation, though he'd be cutting it close.

_Okay,_ he thought, closing his eyes again and sliding back in his chair, blocking out the sounds of his classmates' blather.

_Okay,_ he thought again. _Think…when did Sakuno start avoiding me? Some time in second year? No, before that I think. Erm…maybe she was mad I left for America? No, she was at the airport with everyone else, and she wrote to me…I don't think I ever wrote back…_

_So…sometime between when I left, and the beginning of second year. Um…okay, so I flew back, registered at Seishun again, saw the guys, signed up for the tennis club again…then what did I do? Oh yeah I went to the roof…I still had jet lag from the flight, so I wanted to get some sleep before practice. I remember…I closed my eyes-and then I must have fallen asleep…and then…I think someone else came up…oh yeah it was Sakuno…she…_

Ryoma's eyes flew open in horror as the memory came rushing back.

"Oh-fucking_ hell_," he said with feeling.

* * *

"Idiot-" _BANG_-"Moron-"_ BANG_-"Loser-"_ BANG_-"Cretin-" _BANG_-"Fool-" _BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-_

"Echizen?"

Ryoma glanced around. There was someone standing behind him in the bathroom (sounding a trifle concerned) but he couldn't quite focus on them. He felt dazed, and his forehead was throbbing from where he'd continuously banged it against the door to one of the stalls.

_Good,_ he thought to himself viciously._ You deserve to be in pain you stupid, lame, asinine_- BANG-BANG-BANG-

"Oi Echizen, cut it out!" Momo exclaimed, grabbing Ryoma by the back of his shirt and yanking him away from stall door. "Geez," he said incredulously, "I know those doors stick, but there's gotta be a better way to open them."

Ryoma swayed a little where he stood, squinting up at Momo-or Momos. There seemed to be three of four of his sempai looming over him, with identical expressions of worry on their faces. _Huh_, he thought vaguely.

"What?" Momo asked.

He hadn't realized he'd spoken out loud. "You're taller than me again," Ryoma said in a slightly more coherent voice-although was it him, or did his words seem to be slurring together a little?

Momo blinked. "Huh?" he said, echoing Ryoma.

"You used to be taller than me," Ryoma tried to explain, "but then I caught up to you this summer-but then I guess you grew again. I'm only level with your shoulder now. Look, see-" he straightened up and took a step forward (to demonstrate the difference in their heights, or something), but he seemed to have gone in the wrong direction. Instead of walking towards his sempai, he seemed to have accidentally moved towards the floor instead…

"Oi-Echizen!" Momo yelled, darting to forward, trying to get to Ryoma before his head hit the linoleum. He almost made it too.

_SMACK_

Ryoma's skull took its second beating of the day. Granted, this one was unintentional, but the end result seemed to be the same: pain. As the blackness starting rushing in at the edges of his vision, and his hearing faded away to a dull buzzing that grew fainter and fainter, Ryoma, through the fog in his mind, was made aware of three things.

One: Passing out was sort of pleasant-and sort of not. The pain in his skull was fading to a dull throb, and even that was slipping away along with his consciousness. He felt nauseous for some reason, and he felt fever hot, but also clammy cold at the same time. It was almost enjoyable in a way; he felt dreadfully sick, but he could feel that slipping away too. It would be nice if all sickness went away like this-but then he supposed everyone would be trying to get sick, just to experience that bizarre feeling of being ill but sort of getting rid of it. He would.

Two: Through the buzzing in his ears he could make out Momo's voice, although not the words. He was shouting something and he sounded panicked, or scared-maybe both. He also thought he could hear pounding-not his skull, but a different sort of pounding, like several pairs of feet running towards him.

And three: He couldn't help but feel he deserved this. He deserved the nearly unbearable pain in his head and the migraine that was sure to follow. He deserved this horribly nauseating feeling and the surreal and vaguely petrifying sense of slipping away into nothingness, of not knowing what would happen when the blackness filled his eyes completely and all sound finally melted away.

He _deserved_ this. Because he was scum. Because a girl, probably the nicest, sweetest girl in the entire world, had confessed to him, and he had brushed her aside. Worse-he had been cruel. He had crushed her, brushed her aside, and then forgot about her. He actually_ forgot_ that he had broken this girl's heart, because he had deemed her unimportant. Unimportant and insignificant.

Worse still: he had actually demanded her to tell him _why_ she was upset with him, because he was too much of an ass to remember what was probably one of the worst moments of her life.

And the most despicable of all: Now, years later, when she had finally gotten over him, he had the _nerve_ to fall in love with her.

_I don't deserve this_, his mind whispered as the sounds of muffled voices filled the room and then were gone from his hearing, and the last pinprick of light disappeared into darkness, his consciousness along with it.

_I deserve worse._

* * *

_That jerk_, Sakuno thought angrily, slamming her locker shut.

She had never been so angry before-or so humiliated. He doesn't remember! The worst moment of her life, and he doesn't even remember it!

_"Of course I don't remember,"_ the Echizen of her thoughts said with a sneer. _"You aren't anything to me. You never were. The worst moment of your life? It was just another day for me."_

Sakuno slid down onto the bench in the locker room, trying to hold back her tears. She was so _stupid_. Of course he wouldn't remember. He probably got confessed to all the time. It was ridiculous of her think that hers might have stood out in his memories. Still…how could he just…

_'"What did I do to you? What did I do that was so awful?"'_

She buried her face in her hands, trying to get a hold of her expression before the other girls came in. After afternoon practices, she had rushed to the locker room and gotten changed at top speed, hoping for a few minutes of alone time. It was so tiring, acting like everything was fine when really it felt like her insides had been ripped out, leaving her with a wrenching, hollow feeling in her stomach. She was so sick of being surrounded by people who all expected her to be perfect.

She heard her teammates approaching, their voices louder and more excited than usual. There must be some new gossip.

Sakuno straightened up and plastered a smile on her face just as they all came streaming in. They were all chattering excitedly, some of them looking anxious or worried.

"Can you _believe_ it?"

"Do you think he fainted?"

"No way! Not_ him_!"

"I hope he's alright."

"I can't believe it!"

Misaki came over to Sakuno, her brow crinkled.

"What's going on?" Sakuno asked her. "Did something happen?" Misaki bit her lip and looked at her with troubled eyes, as if she wasn't sure if she should tell her, and immediately Sakuno realized that something was really wrong.

"Misa," she began, rising up from her seat, when Tomoka ran over to them.

"Sakuno!" she exclaimed, grabbing her hands. "Did you hear? Can you _believe_ it?"

"Tomoka, I don't think-" Misaki began in warning tone, but Sakuno cut her off.

"Tell me what happened, Tomo-chan," she demanded. A cold feeling of dread had filled her hollow stomach. She didn't know what was wrong, but if everyone was so agitated about it, and Misa didn't even want her to know…she didn't even want to imagine what could have happened.

"It was terrible!" Tomoka cried, but she didn't exactly sound upset. That was Tomo, though. She loved gossip of any kind. "It happened right after you left-why did you leave so fast, by the way-but anyways, all of a sudden we saw a group of teachers running by, and Momo-sempai was with them too. They were all carrying him, he looked unconscious, and oh there was so much blood! All over his head and his clothes and the teachers carrying him. I think they were headed to the nurse, but if you ask me, they should have gone straight to the hospital! All that blood-he might have been shot or something! I swear, it was so _gruesome_, it was-"

"That's enough, Tomoka," said Misaki sharply.

"_Who?_" Sakuno demanded, aghast. It must be someone she knew! Why else would Misaki be so upset? Why else wouldn't she want her to know? _Oh, please don't let it be Kenta, or Takeshi, or-_

"Oh right, I forgot! It's just that everyone's talking about it, I forgot you didn't know! You really shouldn't have run off like that Sakuno, you missed out on the hottest piece of gossip this year! Anyways, it was-"

"Tomo-don't-" Misaki tried desperately.

"Ryoma Echizen!"

"Tomoka!" Misaki said angrily. "I can't believe you!"

"What? What's wrong?" Tomoka asked in confusion, but Misaki had turned her attention elsewhere. She had to stop Sakuno from doing something she'd regret.

"Sakuno," Misaki began desperately, turning to face her friend, "I-"

But she was already gone.

* * *

_I have a concussion._

Ryoma wasn't exactly sure about anything at the moment, but of that he was positive. Nothing else could account for the pain his head, the heavy bandages wrapped tightly around it, and the groggy, disconnected flow of his thoughts. There was a dull ringing in his ears. He had tried opening his eyes once, but, even though the shades were drawn on the window next to his bed and all of the lights were off, the room had still seemed painfully bright, and he had shut his eyes immediately, a small moan escaping his lips.

That was the other thing that had tipped him off; he would never ordinarily acknowledge any pain.

Keeping his eyes closed, he tried to focus his muddled thoughts, to assess his situation. He was in a bed. Right? Yeah. 'Cos only beds have, like, pillows. And the blankets n' stuff. And he was lying down. But not on the ground, 'cos that would be uncomfortable. And he was not uncomfortable. 'Cept for his head. He was so comfy. It was almost like he was in a….um….like he was in a bed! Yeah! So this was a bed, right? Yes. Definitely. Maybe. No-probably. No-he was sure of it. This was a bed!

_ Ha! So now I know two things. I have a concussion, and this is a bed._

Ow. Bed or no bed, thinking complicated thoughts like that when you had a concussion was way too painful.

Distantly, he thought he heard some voices.

"Let me see him!"

"I'm sorry, miss, but no one is allowed in. That's the rule-"

"I don't care about your goddamned rules! Let me see him right now!"

"Now you had better watch yourself, missy. I'm afraid I don't care much for your tone or your language! You-"

"I don't give a damn about you or your frickin' rules! You had better let me in, or I'll-"

Ryoma tuned the voices out. They were too noisy and hurt his head.

The person sitting in the chair next to Ryoma got up and walked over to where the loud voices had been coming from. Woah…there had been a person sitting in the chair next to his bed. _Woah,_ there was a _chair_ next to the bed that he was definitely in. And he had a concussion. Ouch. The list of things he knew was getting too extensive. Maybe he should listen to the voices again. If he kept just lying here like this, he might learn even _more_ things.

"It's alright, Nurse. You should let her see Echizen."

_ Hey-that's my name! My name is Ryoma Echizen, I have a concussion, I am in a bed, there is a chair next to the bed, there was a person in the chair next to the bed that I am in, but then he left and now the chair is empty. Now there are three voices not too far away and they are noisy. But they're getting quieter. I am in a bed. This is a bed. I'll bet this bed is in a room, too, and-_

Ouch. Too much thinking.

"Momoshiro, I allowed you to stay with Ryoma because he's your friend, but this rude girl here-"

"It's alright, Nurse. She's his-erm…"

"Girlfriend."

_ Now there are four voices._

"Fuji-sempai!"

"She's his girlfriend, Nurse, and she's upset, that's why she may have behaved rudely. Please let her see Echizen-kun."

"Oh…alright. You can go see him, miss. But you two-out! No more than one visitor at a time."

Now there were a lot of footstep-sounds, heading in different directions. Some of them were heading in his direction. The chair next to his bed was pulled back and someone sat themselves in it.

_ Now there is a person in the chair next to the bed that I am in again._

"Oh, R-Ryoma-kun," a voice choked with tears said.

Wait-he knew that voice. Soft and sweet, even now when it was thick with crying. And the stutter, that lovely, endearing stutter that he hadn't heard for so long…

He forced his eyes open; he could only manage to get them halfway there, but it was enough. There she was. Amber eyes swimming with tears, hand covering her trembling mouth. For a moment, it was like he was looking at the Sakuno he knew from middle school. Her hair was even in braids again…probably for tennis…'cos she was a regular and everything…He tried to open his eyes a little wider, but the light of the room became too much for his aching skull and he squeezed his eyes shut and gave another involuntary moan.

"Nurse!" Sakuno said frantically. Another pair of footsteps came over. Sakuno was conversing with another voice in low, worried murmurs. Suddenly there was a sharp prick in his arm, followed by a pleasant, warm sensation spreading throughout his body, numbing the pain in his head. The other pair of footsteps walked away, and it was just him and Sakuno again. He was going to fall asleep in a moment, he could tell. But he couldn't-not yet. Because there were some other things he knew, and they all had to do with this girl, and he had to tell her. He had to make sure she knew. She needed to know.

"Sakuno…" he murmured, and heard her gasp. She had thought he was already unconscious. "I need to tell you…I forgot. I forgot. And that was so wrong. Y'know? 'Cos I shouldn't've forgotten that. 'Nd I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Sakuno. I'm sorry." His words were all slurring together. He hoped she could understand him.

"It's all right, Echizen," she said quietly after a long pause, while Ryoma was fighting off the drug that was trying to pull him under. "It's okay." Her words sounded sad.

"No," said Ryoma. "'S'not okay. It can never be okay, what I did. So don't forgive me. But I am still sorry. I'm so sorry…I'm so…sorry…be…cause…." The drug was winning. He was going to lose consciousness any moment now.

"I know, E-…R-Ryoma-kun." She leaned forward and stroked his hair. What little resistance he had against the drug melted away at her touch. "I know. Go to sleep now."

He tried to finish his sentence, but he couldn't. He was sliding away into the blackness again, but it was pleasant this time. The pain was there but he couldn't feel it. He couldn't feel anything. Nothing was real, nothing except for Sakuno's hand on his cheek, and the thought that couldn't say out loud.

_ I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. It's because I love you._

* * *

Sakuno gazed at Ryoma's sleeping face, the lines of pain and worry gone at last, the drug taking him to a blissful, dreamless slumber. Her hand still rested on his cheek. She had wanted to comfort him so badly. She hadn't been able to stop herself from touching him.

She drew her hand back but still sat, staring into Ryoma's face, a thousand emotions churning inside her. He had sounded so desperate, and yet so determined, as he fought both a concussion and narcotics to get out his apology. But even though he had said he was sorry, he had told her not to forgive him. He didn't think he deserved her forgiveness. He had just wanted her to know how he felt…that he was sorry, so sorry…

All of the barriers Sakuno had put up her around her heart since that day in the classroom, all of the walls, all the protections…they crumbled like they'd been built of breadcrumbs. And all it had taken was a concussed boy's sleepy apology.

Somehow, Sakuno couldn't help thinking this was her fault. That because she had forced herself on him, ignored him, and then lashed out at him…that it was all of these things that had led to Ryoma lying in this bed, in so much pain, not even able to string a proper sentence together.

_ I'm sorry. I'm so sorry._

Hardly aware of what she was doing, she stood up and stroked his hair again, brushing the sweaty fringe away from his forehead. As light as a butterfly's wings, she leaned down and kissed his bandaged forehead. Then, gently, she kissed his cheek.

And then, cupping his sleeping, beautiful face in her hands, she kissed him tenderly on his lips.

She pulled back, caressing his cheek lightly with the back of her hand, gazing into his face, the face she knew better than any other, better than her own.

_It's because I love you._

* * *

IknowIknowIknowIknowIknow. I've been gone forever and that's all you get? And I really am sorry about that. I SWEAR, I'm really gonna try and update sooner. I promise!

Did you at least like the ending? Review! If you want. Or don't. I'm so sorry!


End file.
